Carlton Lassiter Goes on Vacation
by pineapple-dalek
Summary: Two weeks to help Beth pack & move from Ohio to Cali. Sounds easy, right? Well, this wouldn't be much of a story if nothing happened. Between weather, family issues & an accident, to name a few, will Carlton ever get a chance to relax? Sequel to CLMaNF
1. Chapter 1

Hi! And Welcome to story #2 of the Miss March Adventures series! It would help to have already read _"Carlton Lassiter Meets a New Friend."_ This is currently a WIP that I started on Psychfic back in May and have yet to finish it! In my defense, I was working at a Girl Scout Camp for 9 weeks and it was crazy intense! I think I only wrote 500 words the whole time! Also, this story is moving a lot slower than any of my other ones. I try for a 2x a week update but I'm finding it hard enough to post once a week. Hopefully I will get this done before Thanksgiving so I can continuing writing and start posting the 3rd story in this series, which I am so excited for! I even have a crossover fic planned after that but I have to write the other series stories first...Sorry, I tend to ramble a lot online.

So, my character has 3 pets all based on my family's pets. Unfortunately, Frisco (and Murphy, but I didn't like him as much and we only had him for 3 years) died in the middle of summer :( I was devastated! I was a mess at camp that week and it took almost 2 months to not tear up a little bit thinking about him. The dog in this story is maybe 4 years younger than Frisco was this year, but I tried to keep his traits and history as close as possible. This a special, short "scene" in ch 12, just for him. So, because I am such a sap, I'm dedicating (at least bits and pieces) of this story to my dog: to Frisco, the best buddy a girl could ever have. RIP 1998-2011

Anyways, this story takes place in March and the last one took place in January. It all happens after season 5 (in case you've forgotten or didn't read the other story) and I don't think that there are any episode spoilers in this one...

This should stay at a T rating for mild language and alcohol.

So enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not affiliated with Psych or anything else in any way, shape or form. I have no expertise in anything, especially medicine or law enforcement.

* * *

><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 1<strong>_

Saturday morning found Juliet O'Hara getting ready to leave the police station after working the night shift. While putting on her coat, she noticed Carlton Lassiter was sitting at his desk, trying to finish a report. Walking over, she asked, "Carlton? What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving for Ohio today?"

"I am. My flight leaves in about 2 hours but I need to finish this."

"Can't it wait? You don't want to miss your flight."

Sighing, Carlton finally looked at her. "I'm going to be gone for over two weeks and who knows how much stuff is going to pile up before I get back. Besides, this needs to be filed by Monday."

"Are you at least packed?"

"Yes, everything's in my car. As soon as I finish this, I'm going to call a cab."

"Come on, I'll drive. You can finish your report in the car and this way you won't have to worry about a cab being late."

Groaning, Carlton looked over what he wrote before nodding, "Fine, let's go. You better be careful, I don't want any dents on my car."

"Carlton, I've had my license since I was 16, I know how to drive safely." Juliet remarked as she grabbed her purse.

Snorting, Carlton quickly collected his things before following her outside.

* * *

><p>They were still about 5 minutes away from the airport when Carlton finally finished his report. It wasn't his best handwriting because of all the bumps, but it would have to do. Leaning back in his seat, he was about to close his eyes when Juliet spoke up.<p>

"So, have you talked to Beth recently?"

"Yes, she got home yesterday morning and gave me a quick call before taking a nap. She checked in again this morning to find out when my flight was."

"Yesterday? I didn't know that it takes that long to drive to Ohio. Didn't she leave Sunday night?" Juliet wondered as they stopped at a light.

"Yeah but she spent a day and a half in Illinois with her oldest sister and her family. She managed to get in and out before it started raining. I told her she was crazy for driving 10-12 hours at night, but she said that it's quieter and more peaceful."

Juliet smiled at Carlton's scowl. "So, did you pack warmly? I heard that you might encounter snow while you're there."

"Don't remind me," Carlton groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Beth went through my wardrobe with me last weekend. She said it can get anywhere from 10 to 70 degrees. She's not sure that I have enough warm clothes, but I told her that I'll be fine. If worse comes to worse, we'll probably go shopping or something."

"As long as you don't wear suits the whole time. You're on vacation, enjoy your time and relax."

"She limited me to 4 suits and if I brought anymore then that, she was going to hide them and I wouldn't be able to wear any. I've only got 2 pairs of jeans so I don't know what she expects me to wear." As they pulled up to the drop off lane, Carlton held up the file. "Please be sure to hand this in to records."

"Okay," Juliet nodded as she took it. "Do you need any help?"

"No. I've only got a suitcase, a duffle bag and my heavy coat, I'll be fine." He growled as he climbed out and opened the back door.

"Well, have a good time. And remember to relax, you can worry about work when you come back in 2 weeks."

"Be careful with my car," He stated as he shut the door.

"Have fun!" Juliet called as she drove off, leaving Carlton alone to make his way through the airport.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Carlton was pissed as he marched through the Cleveland Airport. His flight was suppose to get in around 10pm last night, but because of the weather, they were almost 9 hours behind schedule. He called Beth when his connecting flight was first delayed and then again when they were finally boarding. He felt bad about calling her so late, but she explained that she was up since she couldn't sleep.<p>

So here he was, cold, tired, hungry and irritated, making his way as swiftly as possible to the pickups. When he was about 10 yards away from the doors, he received a text from Beth saying that she was outside and to remind him to put his coat on. He couldn't help the smile as he stopped at a bench and quickly donned his coat.

Wishing he had an umbrella, Carlton stepped out into the near freezing rain and started to look for Beth. He was about to call her phone when a green blur came right at him, knocking them both to the ground. "Oh sweet justice," he groaned as he tried to get a grip on the body covering him.

Laughing, Beth responding, "Well hello to you to! About time you got here!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't control the weather. If I could, I would have gotten here last night and it would be about 40 degrees warmer and not raining."

"Good point." She finally got off him and offered a hand up. "That doesn't matter now, but if we stay here too long, we'll get soaked and will probably be late."

"Late for what?" Carlton questioned as he tried to swipe some of the water off his face.

"Church, it's Sunday. I figured we have just enough time to stop for breakfast before service." She smiled as she grabbed his duffle bag.

"Do we have to? I'm tired, cold and am now getting wet, which means I'll be even colder."

"Carlton! This is important to me! I grew up in this church and I haven't been back since Thanksgiving! I promise that if you're too tired after service than we won't stick around for Sunday school."

"There's Sunday school too?" He groaned as he grabbed his bag and followed her to the car.

"Yes. It's a fairly large church, not one of those mega churches, but still a lot of active members. There's Sunday school for people of all ages. Even though you're technically a couple years too old, we'll go to the young adults group. It's for people in their 20s and 30s, but they never turn anyone away. I made sure of that." Beth unlocked her car and put his stuff in the back seat before walking to the front. "Amy and I were the main leaders when the group formed about 5 years ago. It was originally for people 18 to 27, but then we would have only had a couple years, and there wasn't a lot of interest at the time, so we opened it up and got a much better response. It's almost as big as the youth group which had about 50 youth on their last mission trip."

"Wow," Carlton said as he got in next to her. "I guess we could stay. I mean, how long is it?"

"Well, my church has 3 one-hour services and Sunday school takes place during service. So if we stay, we'd be leaving church around noon. And Amy invited us for dinner tonight. It was originally for lunch after church but when I told her last night that your flight was delayed, she said that it would be fine to postpone it and give you a chance to sleep. Oh, did you get any sleep? I forgot to ask."

"Only a couple hours on the plane." Carlton said as he readjusted the seat for his longer legs before leaning back slightly.

"Okay, well it's about a half hour ride to McDonalds if you want to take a nap now. I'll just put on the radio or something." Beth commented as she slowly pulled out. "Actually, it might take a bit longer in this weather."

"I thought you Midwesterners were able to drive in any type of weather?" Carlton commented as he took off his wet coat and covered his legs.

Beth laughed as she turned on the radio. "True, but I'm always a bit more cautious in the rain. I'm fine in the snow, it's just rain that I don't like."

Carlton snorted as he closed his eyes, smiling when he heard Beth singing along to the music.

* * *

><p>When they got to the church, they hurried across the parking lot as bells were ringing.<p>

"I can't believe that it took you so long to change shirts! And was it really that hard to leave your holster in the car. I mean seriously, this is a church! Nothing criminal happens, except maybe people taking too many cookies. Why did you bring it in the first place?" Beth asked as she stopped under the overhang at the entrance.

"I'm sorry," Carlton snapped back as he straightened his tie. "It's a force of habit, almost like a security blanket."

"Aw, are you feeling insecure and out of place?" She asked sweetly as she ran her hand through his wet hair.

Batting her hand away, he growl. "No! Maybe. Are we going in or not? You're the one who says that we're late."

Smiling, she gently fluffed her own hair, "We're only missing the opening songs. I wanted to get here before service started so that I could introduce you to people, but I guess you'll just have to wait."

As she started for the doors, Carlton opened it for her. Smiling, she walked past him, only to spin around quickly, making him to stubble back. "Oh, just one thing, this is a very friendly place, so they will be a lot of handshakes and don't be surprised if you get a few hugs, especially from Amy or Susie."

"Oh, okay." Carlton nodded as Beth took his hand, leading him through the halls.

Several people greeted Beth as they walked past and she politely responded as they continued walking. As they stopped to take off their coats, Carlton asked, "Why isn't it in the sanctuary?"

"Oh, well this is the contemporary service and this space was specially made for all the sound equipment. You'll see." Beth smiled at him before continuing down the hall and greeting the two people outside the door. "Hi Mrs. Banish, Mr. Banish."

"Hi Beth, sweetie!" Mrs. Banish engulfed her in a hug as Carlton awkwardly nodded at Mr. Banish. "I'm so glad that you're back! Is it another visit or are you staying?"

"Well, I'm actually moving to California, so Carlton here is visiting to help me pack." Beth said as she patted Carlton's arm.

"Hello Carlton. I'm Jane Banish and this is my husband Bill. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And welcome to Cleveland!" She reached forward and shook his hand strongly.

"Thank you."

"Well, we better get in there. Amy was suppose to save us seats."

"Yes, I think I saw her and Dan over on the right side with your other siblings," Jane said as she gave them bulletins.

"Thanks, Mrs. Banish. I'll talk to you guys later. Come on Carlton," Beth dragged him off into the giant room.

There were windows all along 3 of the sides with a huge ceiling. The floor seemed to be similar to that in gyms, the notion reinforced by the movable basketball hoops on the sides. There were over 300 chairs lined up in rows facing the front stage where the alter table was set with 2 tall candles and a matching cross. There was a break in the songs as Beth started looking through the rows.

The music starting up again managed to mostly cover up a squeal coming from the row Beth stopped at. A young women about Beth's age, with similar looks, except with long brown hair, scurried across the 5 empty seats and enveloped Beth in a hug as the people around them looked on. Carlton could make out the slight baby bump under her loose top.

"I'm so glad you finally made it! I was getting worried when service started." The other women whispered excitedly as she pulled back and looked Beth over. "Oh my gosh you look so good! Between your hair and your slight tan, you look fantastic! California is definitely agreeing with you."

Smiling, Beth spun a bit in her knee length blue skirt and light blue blouse. "Thanks, I feel great. And look at you! 5 months pregnant and you can barely tell! Oh, there's someone you have to meet." She smiled as she pulled Carlton forward. "This is Carlton Lassiter, that detective I've told you about. Carlton, this is my younger sister Amy Gilbert."

Carlton smiled tightly as he offered his hand. "Hello Amy. I've heard a lot about you. You seem to be Beth's favorite topic."

Smiling, Amy took his hand. "Well, we are pretty close. She's told me quite a few things about you, head detective."

Giggling at his blush, Beth looked around, "The song's ending, we should probably continue this later."

"Right-o!" Amy saluted as she bounced back to her seat, bumping a taller guy who immediately put an arm around her.

"I told you she's very hyper." Beth smiled as she dragged him down the row, standing between Carlton and her sister.

"I should have grabbed more coffee," Carlton mumbled as he looked through the bulletin. Laughing, Beth wrapped her arm around his as the song ended.

One of the ministers immediately hurried forward and said, "Welcome this cold and rainy morning. I invite you now to turn to those around you and greet them with signs of Christian affection and love."

Beth nudged Carlton slightly before getting around him and leaving the row. Being a bit unsure of himself, Carlton politely greeted those who turned to him, including the taller guy who Amy introduced as her husband Dan as well as her siblings Bobby and Jo on Dan's other side.

Beth bounced back in as they were sitting down and leaned into him as they listened to the announcements.


	2. Chapter 2

_**CHAPTER 2**_

As the offering plate was passed around near the end of service, Beth leaned against him and whispered, "I'm glad that you're here with me. I don't think that I could face my family on my own."

Wrapping his arm around her, he whispered back, "I'm glad that I'm here."

She kissed his cheek as they stood up and she clung to him for the last verse of the song.

As the closing song started, Beth smiled as she let go of him. "This is one of my favorites and I've performed it a few times at gigs."

Sure enough, Carlton remembered the words and sung along as Beth and Amy started doing some sign language. They seemed to not remember some of the signs and would start laughing when they each did something different. By the end of it, they were both doubled over with laughter, trying to stifle it as they clung to the seats in front of them.

After the minister gave a final blessing, Beth turned to him with a huge smile. "Aren't you glad that you came?"

"Yeah, getting to see you relax with your sister is very entertaining."

Taking his arm, she turned to Amy, "We're going to go mingle with others. We'll probably see you upstairs."

"Okay," Amy smiled as she hugged her husband.

Shaking her head, Beth led the way out of the row. "They are so cute together! Always have been. Anyways, there's some people that I need you to meet, including Susie, who I don't see." She frowned as she pulled him up front so that they could talk to one of the ministers. "Hey Dr. Yost," she greeted the older one. The minister who gave the sermon was greeting people at the door.

"Hello Beth, how are you?" He pulled her into a quick hug before stepping back.

"I'm doing good."

"So you're moving to California? Big step and a lot of changes." Beth had announced during the prayer requests what her plans were, as well as mentioning her visitor.

"Yeah, well. I just felt like it was the right thing to do, especially after I met a bunch of really nice people." She smiled as she patted Carlton's arm.

"Ah, yes. Carlton, is it?" Dr. Yost stuck out his hand.

"Yes sir. Carlton Lassiter," he said as he took the handshake and smiled slightly.

"Mark Yost, and how are you enjoying North East Ohio?"

"Oh, well I just got in this morning, so I think it would be a bit unfair to judge yet. Although you have a beautiful church."

"Yes, and there's a nice history behind it that I'm sure Beth can tell you all about if you are interested. She led a class on it a couple summers ago."

Beth blushed as they both looked at her. "Yeah, well maybe next week when Carlton isn't so jetlagged."

"She has been such a strong influence in this church and it's hard to believe that she's barely 30. It's such a shame that you're moving away."

"Well, I may come back every once and while since my family is still here."

"I know that the choir and praise team both miss your presence." Mark looked at his watch. "I'm sorry, I wish we could continue this chat, but I'm need to get ready for the next service. Feel free to come talk to me during the week. Either of you or both, it doesn't matter."

"Thanks Dr. Yost," Beth smiled as he walked away. "He's been Senior Pastor here for over 15 years, so definitely the one I've gotten closest to. Come on, I need to talk to someone before I forget." She took his hand and led him across the room, politely greeting people as they passed.

As they got to where the praise team was tearing down, she released him and went up to the head singer, "Hi Chris."

"Hey Beth, it's good to see you! How's it going?" Chris asked as she collected the music from the stands.

"Good, real good," Beth flashed Carlton a smiled before continuing. "I should be here for the next two weeks and was wondering if I could maybe jump in and sing next Sunday."

"You know what, that might actually work. A couple of my singers are going to be out of town and we would love for you to join us! Your friend here is welcome, too."

Carlton looked startled at being addressed, "Oh no, I don't sing well at all, especially not in front of an audience."

Beth grabbed his hand as she smiled, "Yeah, I've only heard him sing a few times, but you can trust me when I say he's not the right man for the job." She laughed as he gave her a little shove.

"Okay, well send me an email to remind me and I'll put you down for next week. It's great to see you again," Chris patted Beth's arm as she continued collecting things.

"Yeah, it's great to be back." Beth replied before dragged Carlton off towards the doors of the quickly empting room. "So, are you up for more socializing or are we leaving?"

Seeing the pure happiness in her eyes, Carlton sighed as he said, "I guess we can stay, as long as I can get some coffee first."

Giving him a quick hug, she said, "Of course. Hopefully there are some cookies left!"

"If anything, you do not need anymore sugar," he groaned as she practically skipped down the empty hall with Carlton barely keeping up.

Smiling, she slowed down before entering a nicely furnished room where people were hovering around a couple tables, one of which had coffee pots. "There you go, doctor up yourself some coffee while I have juice and a cookie."

"What are you, 5?"

"No, but it's here and I'm hungry again. Now hurry up. Sunday school starts," they heard the bells chime again, "right now. Just because my sister leads it, doesn't mean that we should be too late."

"You're the one stopping to talk to everyone." Carlton pointed out as he quickly added cream and sugar to his cup.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry. Next time I'll be more conscientious of the time."

Shaking his head, Carlton quickly grabbed a cookie, ignoring her smirk, as Beth tried to drag him upstairs.

A group of about 20 people were in small groups all around the room when they arrived, quickly interrupted when one of the women squealed, "Beth!" A young women, about half a foot shorter than Beth and with curly dark red hair, ran across the room and attacked Beth in a hug, barely avoiding Carlton and his coffee.

Laughing, Beth returned the hug, "Jeez Suz! You just saw me yesterday for quite a few hours."

"I know but I'm still so excited that you're here! It's been almost 9 months since I didn't see you during Thanksgiving." Pulling back she turned to Carlton. "And is this the infamous Carlton that I've been hearing so much about?"

"Yep! Carlton Lassiter, meet Susie Kellys" Beth said as Susie quickly hugged Carlton, barely missed spilling his coffee again.

"Welcome to Ohio, to our church and to our Sunday school class," Susie smiled as she pulled back and looked him over. "Although, I think you're a bit old to be in here."

"Suz! Only by a couple years. Besides, I wasn't going to leave him at the mercy of some other class without me, unless you want us to leave?"

"Of course not! You know we don't turn anyone away, unless they're still in middle school like a certain miscreant."

Beth laughed as Jo stood up and said, "Alright, I think that we should get started before Beth and Susie get into one of their fights again."

Everyone laughed as they quickly took seats, Carlton sitting at the end of a couch with Beth, Susie and Jo.

Once everyone quieted down, Jo said, "I think that we should introduce ourselves since we have a few new faces. I'll start and everyone should say their name and favorite hobby."

Beth leaned over and whispered, "Please don't say anything cop related." She smiled at his frown.

"I'm Jo and I'm into scrap booking."

"Susie and I guess card making."

"Beth and I want to say music but since I'm perform in bars, it's not really a hobby. Let's say photography."

"I'm Carlton and skeeball."

"Bobby and video games."

People quickly said their names and hobbies with some jokes thrown in. Feeling the atmosphere relax a little bit more, Carlton leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs. As the lesson went on, there was a lot of laughter and more jokes as they discussed the bible passages. By the time the hour was over, Carlton was in a pretty good mood, besides being tired.

* * *

><p>At the end of the class, the class broke up into small groups again, and Carlton found himself in a conversation with Bobby, who kept going on and on about cars. When Carlton mentioned that he had a Ford Fusion Hybrid, Bobby went on a rant about hybrid cars. After about 5 minutes, Beth finally rescued him, saying that they better get going before the weather got too bad. Looking out the window, Carlton noticed that it had started raining even harder. Promising Amy that they would be over by 7, Beth carefully steered Carlton out of the room and down the stairs to get their coats.<p>

"Thank you. I didn't think that I could take much more of your brother's car talk. He said that he loves Crown Vics but not hybrids. Doesn't like electric cars."

Beth smiled as they reached their coats. "Yeah, well my siblings can be a lot to take in, especially when you get them on the right topic. And they have this annoying habit of pushing me away when I want to talk about something they don't care about." She did a weird shake/shimmy as she exhaled before turning to him as she put her coat on. "Enough about them. Let's blow this popsicle stand. Anywhere in particular that you want to go to for lunch?"

Looking out the window, Carlton said, "Someplace warm where we can get hot food."

"Alright, that narrows it down a little. We'll just stop at the first interesting place on the way to my house. But first, I need to say hi to a few more people."

Carlton groaned as Beth took his hand and led him back through the hallways.


	3. Chapter 3

_**CHAPTER 3**_

A few people turned out to be about a dozen and it took them almost 15 minutes to leave since a new person seemed to corner Beth whenever they tried to escape. Finally, they made it to her car and stopped at an Applebee's that wasn't too crowded.

As they waited for their food, Carlton asked, "So, how was the drive out?"

"Oh, it was good, I made great time. Got to Meg's Wednesday morning as they were having breakfast and was able to sleep while they were off at school and work. I took Wes and Kate to the Zoo before meeting Meg and Cory for dinner. Thursday I did a bit of sight seeing by myself before taking them to a movie. I left before midnight and got here Friday morning. Oh my gosh, my pets were so excited to see me!"

Beth smiled brightly as she stirred her ice tea. "My dog Frisco was making so much noise that he woke up Crissy. I felt bad but she said that she was going to get up in an hour anyways so it wasn't too bad. I took Frisco for a quick walk before collapsing in my bed. I barely thought to call you before my cats demanded it to be sleeping time. Murphy, he's a big, long haired cat, likes to sleep on either people's stomachs or backs, so it's hard to move once he's settled."

"Have you seen your parents?" Carlton watched as the smile slipped off her face.

"No. I left them a message Friday night telling them I was in town but they haven't gotten back to me yet. My mom is still a bit peeved at me for leaving in the first place and then finding out from Bobby that I've decided to stay in Santa Barbara. Whatever, she'll get over it."

She looked out the window as the server enthusiastically brought them their food. Once he left, Carlton turned back to Beth who was quietly fuming. Getting up, he sat next to her in the booth as she scooted over. He put an arm around her as she continued to look outside. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's just that," she sighed as she turned to him. "I never seem to do anything right in her eyes! The only time I've ever heard her boast about me was after I did a short solo my senior year. Meg had the first grandchildren. Amy's always been good at soccer and school. Bobby's the star mechanic, practically owning his own garage. And Jo is finally finishing her degree after taking an almost 10 year break. Me? I worked at a childcare center and was very active in the church, but nothing good enough to brag about. And when I took off, it seemed to cause a bigger rift between us. I'm a lot like her, but we always seem to be just short of fighting. I don't know what to do about her except to try and ignore her, but it never works because then Jo and Bobby get on my case about not talking to my mom. It's so annoying."

"I don't get along with my mother." Carlton commented as he rubbed her back.

"Yeah," She sighed. "I don't know. It's just frustrating. I'm pretty sure that Amy invited my parents over for dinner tonight, and knowing them, my mom will pretend that nothing is wrong, but I'll still get those looks that I got when I was 21. The ones where she's disappointed but doesn't want to waste her breath. My dad will act like everything's fine, not intervene. Promise me that if it gets to be too much, that you'll help me escape early. Say something like you're still jetlagged and that we need to go or something?"

He looked at her pleading eyes and nodded, "Sure. Just give me a sign or something."

"Good," She took a deep breath as she pulled her plate closer. "We should probably eat before it gets too cold."

"Yeah." Carlton grabbed his plate and started eating, trying to ignore the playful shoves Beth kept giving him when they bumped arms.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, they slowed down outside a simple looking two story house in a quiet neighborhood.<p>

"We're about 15 miles outside of downtown and the highway is about 4 miles away, so it's pretty peaceful out here. Unfortunately, there aren't many stores nearby so a car is basically a must, but at least the view is good. I helped Crissy move out yesterday, so we have the whole house to ourselves, plus my pets, for the next 2 weeks. Except of course Saturday when Amy and Susie are throwing me a going away party."

"It's a very nice house." Carlton observed a dog barking at them from the front window. "I see your dog is happy to see you."

Beth smiled as she drove into the garage. "Yeah. He was being extra clingy yesterday and I was a bit reluctant to leave him this morning. Just be careful, he's a jumper and has the habit of peeing on new guys that enter his home, so you might want to wait in here until I let him outside."

"Thanks for the heads up." Carlton said as he unbuckled.

"I'll let him run around the yard to help calm him down a bit."

"Okay." He grabbed the bags as Beth went out the side door. She quickly trotted through the rain to shut the gate before going to the back door. She let out a brown and black medium sized German shepherd mutt who started running around her. She shooed him off and watched as he quickly made a circuit of the yard before coming back to her. She petted him before running back to the garage with an umbrella.

"Come on Frisco!" Beth said enthusiastically as she opened the door and led the dog inside. He paused to shake the water from his fur before noticing Carlton and started barking at him. Beth laughed as Carlton stared the dog down. "You're suppose to make friends with Frisco, not scare him!"

"Maybe if he'll stop barking, he's giving me a headache." He growled, causing the dog to growl back.

Rolling her eyes, Beth walked over to Carlton before taking his hand and squatting, causing him to bend over slightly. "Come here Frisco, he's not going to hurt you or me." She said in that weird baby voice that most women had before talking normally to Carlton. "You have to give a dog the chance to smell you since that's their way of shaking hands. It also helps if you get down on their level. You're not trying to intimate them. Besides, my dog's enough of a wimp."

Carlton sighed as he squatted down and watch the dog quickly smell him before giving Carlton his butt and Beth his head. Beth laughed as she released his hand and started petting Frisco. "He prefers to have his back scratched. Yeah, isn't that right you silly puppy!"

"He doesn't look like a puppy," Carlton commented as he quickly patted the dog before standing up.

"Well, technically, he's a senior dog since he's 9 years old, but I guess it's just habit to call him a puppy." Beth gave the dog one more pat as she stood up. She grabbed his duffel bag and led the way to the door, Frisco quickly passing her to make one more trip around the yard.

Following her, Carlton observed the yard. There was a hammock between two trees and an old basketball hoop on the garage. On the deck, there were mismatched plastic chairs, a picnic table and a charcoal grill.

As they entered the laundry/mud room Beth quickly took off her coat and hung it on the wall before calling for Frisco to come in. As soon as the door was closed behind them, Frisco took the opportunity to shake, get them both wet. Beth laughed as she handed Carlton a towel. "Sorry, should have warned you, huh?"

Growling, Carlton took the towel and quickly dried off as Beth did the same for the dog. As soon as Beth gave Frisco the okay, he took off running through the house. "He's such a weird dog, a lot like me. He doesn't like other dogs but he's fine with basically any person, while I'm hesitant with other people but love any type of dog."

"Yeah, two peas in a pod," Carlton commented as he took off his coat and shoes.

"Come on, the bedrooms are upstairs." Beth said as she put on slippers and picked up his duffel bag again.

They were halfway across the kitchen when Beth stopped and picked something up. "Hey Smurf, how's my big kitty?"

"Oh my god, is that a cat?" Carlton asked as he got a look at the giant grey fluffball in her arms.

"Yep. He weighs around 30 pounds. Believe it or not, he actually lost about 5 pounds since I got him 2 years ago from a relative. My cousin's grandmother was moving into a retirement home and they asked if I could take one of their cats or else they would have to go to the animal shelter. Well, Murphy is such a sweetie that I couldn't let that happen."

"Wait, is it Murphy or Smurf?"

Beth laughed as she put the cat down and continued through the living room where Frisco was enjoying a dog bone on the couch. "Technically, his name is Trevor but he looked like one of my grandma's old cats who was named Big Murph, so I started calling him Murphy. Then Amy one time called him Smurf the Murph for some strange reason. He responds to basically anything. Hmm, Frisco and Salem don't have any nicknames."

Carlton shook his head as they started up the stairs. "I'm afraid to ask, but who's Salem?"

"Oh, he's my other cat, a little 10 pound orange tabby. He's skittish around new people, so you probably won't get more than glimpses of him for the next couple of days. He's also the man of the house and has a habit of picking on the other two, even though he's the smallest. See, I got Salem as a kitten when I first moved out of my parents' house 8 years ago, and the other two sort of intruded on his turf."

Beth put her finger to her lips as she approached one of the doors. As she pushed it open, Carlton saw an orange blur streak off the bed and into what he assumed was the closet. Laughing, she shut the door and turned to the door on her right. "I love scaring him. Maybe I'll get the catnip out later so you can get a better look."

"Isn't catnip a drug and just makes them more hyper?" Carlton asked as they stopped at another closed door.

"Yeah, but they have fun with it." Beth smiled as she opened the door, "So here's where you will be staying. I'm sorry if the room seems a bit girly, but it was Crissy's room and I said that she could decorate it however she wanted. I was hoping that when they painted last month that she would pick a more neutral color, but whatever. At least I have more masculine sheets."

Carlton looked around at the soft pink walls and flower decorated furniture. There was one of those white shaggy rugs on the hard wood floors. The bed itself wasn't too bad. A simple wooden frame with dark green sheets and matching comforter. "It's um, nice."

Beth laughed as she opened the empty closet and ran a hand along the hangers. "Amy is expecting a girl, so I said that she could have the furniture. I'm not very girly, I actually hate pink."

"Really? That's…" Carlton failed to stop a yawn. "That's strange."

She smiled as patted his arm. "Come on, if you haven't figured out that I'm proud to be strange by now, then you're not as good a detective as I thought."

"Oh really?" Carlton asked as he stepped closer.

"Yep." she smiled as she popped the 'p'.

Beth shrieked as he grabbed her by the waist and tossed her on the bed before tickling her. As she continued to shriek and giggle, Carlton became aware of her dog standing outside the door and barking. Glancing over to see that Frisco seemed unsure whether or not to butt in, he finally stopped and helped her up.

Yawning again, he pushed her to the door. "If you don't mind, I'm going to try and get some sleep before having to deal with your family's craziness."

Nodding, Beth picked up Murphy, who had been watching them from the dresser. "That's a great idea. I think I'll take a nap too. Oh, the bathroom is right across the hall and there are clean towels in the linen closet next to it. Sleep tight!" She kissed him on the cheek before going down the hall, calling Frisco after her.

Shaking his head, Carlton closed the door and glanced around the room. He really should unpack but he was really tired. Tossing his tie and cell phone on the end table, he crawled under the covers and was asleep in minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

_**CHAPTER 4**_

Looking at the clock, Carlton noted that he had been asleep for about 3 hours. Since Beth never said when they were leaving, he shouldn't risk oversleeping. Getting up, he quickly sorted through his luggage until he found his toiletries. Grabbing some clean clothes, he made his way across the hall to the bathroom. It was a pretty decent sized room with a shower tub.

As he stepped out into the hall 15 minutes later with slacks and an undershirt on, he heard whimpering coming from the master bedroom. Quickly crossing to the door, he knocked softly as he called, "Beth? Are you okay?"

More whimpering met his ears, so he slowly opened the door. Beth was on her side in the fetal position with her hands over her head, Murphy was on a pillow staring at her. Hearing her sob, Carlton quickly knelt next to the bed and put a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the slight flinch. "Beth, you're safe, no one's going to hurt you."

Gasping, Beth opened her eyes and stared at him for a second before quickly turning over on her other side and crying into her pillow. Before Carlton could decide what to do, Frisco came in and hopped up on the bed, growling at Carlton as he laid down against Beth's back.

Standing up, Carlton slowly made his way to the other side of the bed. "Beth? Are you okay?"

She laughed as she shifted her head to look at him, "Do I look okay?"

"Alright, stupid question. Can you tell me what's wrong? I just want to help."

Nodding, Beth sat up, causing Frisco to shift slightly so that his head was laying on her leg. Moving Murphy to her lap, she patted the bed. Giving Frisco a calculating look, Carlton slowly sat next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Beth petted Murphy.

"So, are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?" Carlton asked quietly.

Beth laughed as she shifted so that her head was on his shoulder. "It, it was a nightmare. About what happened with Fred. I haven't slept well the past week or so, since leaving Santa Barbara. Mostly I went to sleep exhausted so I wouldn't dream. The night I spent at Meg's house, I think I got about 4 hours of sleep before I woke up in a cold sweat. I was so close to calling you, had the phone in my hand and everything."

"Why didn't you? I would have came out earlier."

"Because I didn't want to worry you. You would have spent the whole flight fretting. Besides, I figured that I could make it and I did. I ended up going for a 3 mile run at 5am. Meg thought I was crazy, but I didn't care, it helped to clear my head. Once I got here, I was so tired, especially after taking Frisco out, that I slept for 12 straight hours. Then I was up all night sorting through things in the basement. By the time I finally tried to fall asleep last night, I couldn't. I kept flashing back to what happened here back in June. I ended up calling Henry." She laughed sadly, "Boy was he surprised since it was almost midnight there. He helped to calm me down, reassured me. Then I just played piano while I waited for your plane to land."

"So you're telling me that besides the three hours you just got, you haven't slept in almost 40 hours?" Beth nodded. "How the hell were you so hyper this morning?"

She laughed as Frisco growled at his tone, "I told you I was strange. I get into this weird hyper, sugar high-like state when I'm sleep deprived."

"I think that you should sleep some more."

"No." She quickly snapped before taking a deep breath. "I mean, it's almost 6 and we have to leave in about 40 minutes."

"Alright, well I just have to finish changing. Are you sure that you're okay now?"

Beth nodded as she smiled at him. "Yes. Thanks for coming to my rescue, oh sweet knight."

Carlton blushed as she laughed. "Right, I'm going now."

"Fine. I'm going to take Frisco for a quick walk." She laughed as Frisco's head perked up. "Let's meet downstairs in, lets say 35 minutes?"

"Okay." Carlton shook his head as he got off the bed, barely avoiding the suddenly energetic dog.

* * *

><p>Carlton was getting worried. It was almost the time Beth said to meet her in the kitchen, but she wasn't even back from the walk yet. He was contemplating calling her cell phone when she rushed in the back door.<p>

"Sorry!" She called as she quickly dried off Frisco. "I took a wrong turn and we ended up going in the wrong direction. By the time I figured it out, I had to run to get back here." She kicked off her shoes as she ran though the kitchen. "Just give me 10 minutes, I'll be right down. Help yourself to anything in the fridge!"

Shaking his head, Carlton looked at the tired, wet dog who was still standing in the laundry room. "What are you looking at?" Frisco just whined as he shook his fur, only missing Carlton because of how far away he was. "Why don't you go lay down or something?" The dog sat where he was, but continued to stare Carlton down.

Trying to ignore Frisco, Carlton opened the fridge to find it mostly empty. There were the basics, a box of pizza, some fruit and a bottle of pop. Grabbing a banana, he sat on one of the stools at the island, sparing glances at Frisco every so often.

Almost exactly 10 minutes later, Beth came tearing down the stairs in black dress slacks, a blue peasant top and carrying 2 inch black heals. Her hair was a mess and she hadn't put any makeup on. "Sorry, are you ready to go?" She asked as she put earrings in.

"Yeah, but I think your dog wants something."

Beth looked at his confusedly before turning to Frisco and gasping. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Frisco! He's not allowed past the laundry room if he still has a leash on." Dropping her shoes, Beth grabbed a towel and quickly rubbed her suddenly happy dog. Clicking off the leash, she said, "Now be a good dog and guard the house." Frisco barked once as he ran into the living room.

Grabbing her purse from the laundry room, she quickly checked it as she rejoined him. "Okay, we'll probably be 10 minutes late, but I don't think Amy will care much. She usually doesn't serve dinner until 8, 8:30. Oh, my comb's upstairs, I'll be right back!"

Carlton just nodded as she ran upstairs, Frisco quick to follow her. Less than a minute later, she was back and putting her shoes on. "Okay. Let me think of the quickest route." She started mumbling as she went into the laundry room to grab her coat.

"Do you want me to drive?" Carlton asked as he followed her.

"Would you? I still need to fix my hair and my makeup."

"Yeah, of course. As long as you give me directions."

"Alright. We just need to open the gate first." She grabbed an umbrella as they exited.

* * *

><p>When they finally pulled up to the apartment building, they were running close to 20 minutes late between the rain and traffic. Beth was messing with her hair and her purse as Carlton parked on the curb. Turning off the engine, he observed Beth's nervous fidgeting and glances towards the building. Reaching over, her covered her hand with his own. "Are you okay?"<p>

Smiling, she nodded, "Yeah. I'm just nervous because I know for certain that 3 questions are going to come up: What is the relationship between us, why am I moving to Santa Barbara, and what happened with Fred. I'm not sure which one I'm afraid of most."

"You'll be fine. You said that Amy knows everything and between her and me, we'll buffer it well."

"I know. I just wish I knew what Kevin had said about his brother. Amy told me not to worry about it, but Bobby and Fred were getting along pretty well, so I don't know what his reaction will be." Beth's breathing started to increase.

"Hey, I told you that I've got your back." He rubbed her arm, causing her to look at him again. "If you feel too overwhelmed, then we'll leave, no point in suffering."

"You're right." She took a deep breath as she glance at her watch. "Come on, Amy's apartment has a front view, so if they saw us pull up, they'll wonder what we're up to."

Carlton groaned as she gave him a suggestive smile. "Can't you be serious?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not. Besides, if you think I'm bad, just wait. It's going to get crazy in there. Although, they tend to behave themselves when we have company."

Carlton shook his head as they got out of the car. It had stopped raining about 5 minutes ago but he wasn't taking any chances and took the umbrella with him. As he joined Beth on the other side of the car, she was messing with her hair again. "You look fine."

She smiled as she took his hand and led the way up the sidewalk. "I know but my mom is a big critic and she hates it when I cut my hair, she doesn't like it short."

"It's not that short." Her hair stopped right above her shoulder and was layered.

"I know, but like I said, my family is weird." She sighed as she walked into the front foyer and pressed the button that said 'Gilbert'.

They barely had to wait a second when a voice said, "Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see."

Giggling, Beth winked at Carlton as she replied, "Ask me the questions, bridge keeper. I am not afraid."

"What... is your name?"

"My name is Lady Elizabeth of Cleveland."

"What... is your quest?"

"To have dinner with my family."

"What... is your favourite colour?"

"Lavender."

"Go on. Off you go." The buzzer for the door sounded and Beth opened it.

"Thank you bridge keeper."

"Just be lucky I didn't ask you anything harder."

Carlton shook his head, "Wow. That was, interesting."

Beth laughed as she led him to the stairs. "It's one of my family's favorite movies, and Amy does this to me every time I come to visit."

"Does she always ask the same questions?"

"Oh no. Sometimes she asks about the swallows or coconuts or other nonsense from the movie."

"Has she ever not let you up if you got something wrong?"

"Well, no. But she has made me suffer for it. Sometimes it's as simple as having to pay for lunch the next time we go out."

"What about her? Do you ever get one over on her?" Carlton asked as they started walking down a hallway.

"Once, but nothing really happened because it was a silly mistake. I don't really mind." Beth said as they stopped at one of the doors. "Well, here we go. Are you ready?"

"No."

She laughed at his honesty and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before knocking.

The door opened almost immediately to reveal Amy carrying a little boy who Beth had said was about 19 months. "Finally," Amy laughed as she gave Beth a side hug. "I was getting worried! You're usually a few minutes early."

"Sorry, I took Frisco for a walk and ended up getting lost." She took the toddler and gave him a hug. "And how is young Adam doing?" The boy giggled as he hid from Carlton into her shoulder.

Amy laughed as she ushered them inside before shutting the door. "Being a little menace and starting on his terrible twos early. He keeps leaving his toys everywhere and walking away. I swear, he has less patience than me. I don't know what's going to happen when baby number two comes along and I can't give him all of my attention."

"Well, good luck with that." Turning slightly, she looked at Carlton. "Hey Adam, do you want to meet a friend of mine?" Adam turned his head slightly to peek at Carlton before hiding again. Laughing, Beth rubbed his back. "Adam, this is Carlton but I bet if you're a good boy, you can call him Carly."

Carlton glared at Beth as she smiled smugly at him. When Adam turned for another peek, Carlton quickly pasted on a pained smile. "Sure, you can call me Carly."

Adam giggled as he twisted around and tried to jump from Beth to Carlton. Startled, Carlton barely caught him as little arms wrapped around his neck.

"Aww, smile!" Carlton looked up in time to see Beth taking a picture. "You guys are so cute together!"

"I'm really not a kid person," Carlton said softly as Adam squirmed in his arms a bit.

"I think you're a natural," Beth grinned as she took another picture.

Amy laughed as she reached forward and pried Adam off. "I think Carlton might be more camera shy than you."

"Yeah, just a bit. But that doesn't stop me from taking his picture." Beth smiled as she patted his cheek. "I'm teaching Carly here to loosen up a bit."

Growling, Carlton grabbed her by the middle as she tried to squirm away. "You think I need to loosen up?" He managed to tickle her a few times.

Giggling, Beth twisted around and placed her arms around his neck. "Yes, yes I do."

Adam laughed and started chanting, "Carly, Carly, Carly!" making Beth smile again as she wiggled away from him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a minion to teach."

Amy laughed as she passed Adam over. "Everyone else is in the dining room and Jo and Bobby should be here by 8. They wanted to go to the evening church service."

Nodding, Beth detoured to the couch as she bounced Adam and started chanting with him, "Carly, Carly, Carly!"

"Beth!" Amy scolded. "You can't avoid them all night."

Sighing, Beth asked Adam, "Will you be my shield tonight?" Adam shook his head as he started reaching for Amy. "Traitor," Beth mumbled as she passed over Adam and took Carlton's hand. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Nodding, Carlton squeezed her hand as he was led to the sliding doors.


	5. Chapter 5

_**CHAPTER 5**_

Beth took a deep breath as she opened the doors and walked inside. They were met by five people. Carlton recognized the one as Dan but he was confused about the others. One of the women looked a lot like Beth while the other looked like Amy.

Beth squealed as she went up to hug the one that looked like Amy. "Aunt Jill! What are you guys doing here? Amy didn't say that you were coming!"

Jill smiled as she returned the hug, "Your father invited us this afternoon. He said that you had some big news?" She looked Carlton over as they pulled apart.

"Yeah, well. You don't know?" Beth looked around the room as who Carlton assumed was her mom looked at her drink.

"No, but does it have anything to do with this lovely young man?"

"What? Oh no! I mean yes, sort of." She sighed as she took a breath. "It's complicated?"

"Why don't you explain it Elizabeth? We've got about a half hour or so before dinner." Her mom said as she looked at Beth.

Sighing, Beth rolled her eyes for just Carlton to see before turning back to the room at large. Carlton saw Amy give Adam to Dan and shoo them off. "Well, I was traveling the country, stopping wherever I felt like."

"Yes, it was very nice to know that you had ran off." Her mom commented.

"And one of the places I stopped at was Santa Barbara, where I ran into Carlton here at a bar."

Jill smile as she lightly touched Beth's arm. "You picked him up in a bar?"

"Well, sort of. I mean, he was drunk, so nothing happened."

"So if he wasn't drunk, something would have happened?" The guy sitting next to Beth's mom said.

"No, dad, that's not what I meant." Beth looked at Carlton helplessly. "Okay, we met at a bar and I offered to help him home, but he passed out before I could get him there, so I had him sleep it off in my room."

"So you let a complete stranger into your room?" Her mom looked ready to break something.

"Carlton?" Beth ran a hand through her hair as she turned to him, looking about ready to cry.

Clearing his throat, Carlton said as respectfully as he could. "I slept it off, nothing happened. We hung out over the next few days while I showed her around. We've ended up becoming very good friends."

"So you let this complete stranger show you around? You know how dangerous that is Elizabeth?" Her mom reprimanded before turning to Carlton, "Do you usually pick up girls years younger than you in bars?"

Carlton growled as he wished he had his gun. "No, I was having a bad day. I had just wrapped up a hard case and it was affecting me more than usual. I was being nice."

"So you're a police officer?" Jill jumped in quickly. Beth smiled gratefully at her.

"Yes, I'm head detective for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Beth and I seemed to click real well together but neither of us felt that it was suppose to be anything more than friendship."

"Wait, so what's the big announcement then?" Jill asked.

Taking a deep breath, Beth smiled. "Well, I've decided to move to Santa Barbara. I've already got a job set up and am going to start looking for a new apartment soon."

"You mean you've been there for almost 2 months and haven't found an apartment yet? Where are you staying? It must be getting expensive." Her dad chimed in.

"I'm staying with Carlton, okay? We have this really nice arrangement. I stay in his guestroom and I make meals a few times a week. He comes to my gigs and we still find time to just hang out."

"You're performing at bars?" The other man asked.

"Yeah, Uncle Ron. I've got a schedule set up with two pub owners. The one place I work Sunday nights and the other one Wednesdays and Fridays. I get to perform more religious songs for the second one."

"She is very good. I can definitely see an improvement over the last couple months." Carlton said as he rubbed her back.

Beth smiled at him as Amy said, "Well, I think the inquisition is over. Why don't we have some appetizers."

"Great idea, sweetie," Jill said as she moved to follow Amy to the kitchen. "So, what are we eating?"

"Well, I wanted to make hot dog and bean casserole, but Dan said that I should pick something that will cook in the oven while everyone mingles. So I made lasagna. Oh, Carlton, I forgot to ask Beth, is there anything that you don't eat?" Amy stopped at the kitchen door.

"No, only mint." He replied as Beth dragged him over to the drink table.

"Okay, good." Amy smiled as she ducked into the kitchen.

Beth was reaching for the vodka bottle when her mom called out, "So Elizabeth, are you going to properly introduce us?"

Sighing, Beth opened a beer instead as she turned around with a smile. "Everyone, this is Carlton Lassiter." She gave Carlton a tight smile as she continued, "Carlton, this is my Uncle Ron and parents Pat and Harry. The other woman is my dad's younger sister and Ron's wife, Jill." Beth quickly took a gulp of her beer.

Carlton quickly stepped forward and shook hands. "Pleased to meet you all."

"You too." Pat said as the guys nodded. "Now, are you honestly going to tell me that nothing intimate has happened between the two of you?"

"Mom!" Beth whined as she stood next to Carlton. "I said that nothing happened. And even if it did, I'm 30 years old! I can take care of myself!"

"Oh, clearly. Running off with barely any notice is so responsible."

"Well, it was better than staying." Beth snapped as she finished her beer and stomped back to the drinks table.

"And what does that mean?" Pat followed her.

Pouring herself straight Vodka, Beth grimaced as it went down. "It doesn't matter anymore, can we please move on?"

"No, and since when do you drink hard liquor? I've never seen you drink more than a couple beers before." Pat snatched the empty glass from Beth.

"You mean you've actually noticed something about me?" Beth snapped as she took the glass back.

Carlton was about to intervene when Amy came back in with a couple plates. "Okay, so I've got mozzarella sticks, onion rings and a veggie tray."

Pat huffed and rejoined her husband as Beth mixed herself a drink. Walking up behind her, Carlton whispered, "Are you okay?"

Without looking at him, she whispered, "Can you grab me some food and meet me in the living room?"

"Sure." He watched her try and slip away, which would have worked if every eye wasn't already on her. Sighing, he quickly filled up a plate and turned to follow her, only to feel a slight pressure on his arm. Looking over, he found Amy smiling at him.

"Is Beth okay?"

He spared at glance at Pat, who was whispering with Harry, before shrugging. "I don't know, I'm going to go find out."

Amy sighed as she looked at her parents. "Okay, I think I'll have some words with my mother about how to behave in my house."

Nodding, Carlton walked into the living room and found Beth seated sideways on the couch, staring out the window. Since her back was to the dining room, he didn't notice that she was crying until he sat next to her. "Hey, are you okay?"

She shook her head as she took a sip of her drink. "I don't think if I can do this. We're not even here 20 minutes and she's already jumping down my neck, drawing her own conclusions. I almost told her the truth about Fred, but she'd just tell me how stupid I was."

"So instead you're going to drink yourself into a stupor?"

"Yep, that's the plan."

He brushed her cheeks as she sniffled, "Please don't. You'll feel worse later. If nothing else, I need you somewhat sober since I have no idea where we are or how to get back to your house."

She laughed as she handed over her drink. "Okay. But it's really not that hard. You go to a street a couple blocks over and follow it for about 12 miles and then there's 3 left turns to get on my street."

"Then why did we take so many side streets?" Carlton asked as she took some food.

"Because, it was prettier and I wanted to see how well at following directions you were." She smiled widely.

Carlton groaned as he took a sip of her drink only to grimace as he swallowed. "Oh sweet justice, what is that?"

Beth laughed as she took a sip. "Whiskey sour but with Irish whiskey and an interesting pineapple mango sour blend."

"Seriously? What's wrong with a regular whiskey sour?"

She shrugged as she ate some more food. "This is how Meg and Cory first made it for me, and I liked it."

Shaking his head, Carlton got up. "I'm going to get myself a beer. Is there anything nonalcoholic that you want?"

"Sprite or Root Beer, I don't like colas."

"Okay." As Carlton walked into the dining room, he noticed that the older generation was cooing over Adam. Shaking his head, he continued to the drinks table. On his way out of the room, Jill smiled at him.

Beth was just finishing the plate when he passed her the can of Sprite. "Thanks," she mumbled as she looked out the window. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Beth's face brightened a bit and she called out, "Hey Amy! Jo and Bobby are here."

Amy excitedly walked to the intercom and waited for them to press the button. Clearing her throat, she recited, "Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see."

Beth's smile grew as someone replied, "Ask me the questions, bridge keeper. I am not afraid."

"What... is your name?"

"I am Squire Robert of Cleveland."

"What... is your quest?"

"To have dinner with my family."

"Why... Do witches burn?"

"Because um, because … no wait! They're made of wood!"

"I guess I'll let it slide." Amy smiled as she rang the buzzer.

"Thank you bridge keeper."

Beth laughed as Amy next to her on the couch. "I didn't think that he would get that."

"Me neither," Amy smiled as she looked Carlton. "So, our mom hasn't scared you off yet?"

"Nope," Carlton replied as he shifted his gaze to Beth.

"Don't worry, the night's still young. Just don't let her corner you by yourself. She'll rake you over the coals before you even know what's happening."

Beth nodded, "Yeah, Jo has lost many a boyfriends from 'meeting the parents.' Is Jo's fiancé coming tonight? "

Amy shook her head as she stood up, "No, aren't there enough people here already? If I had known this many people were coming, I would have suggested meeting someplace else. My dining room is just barely big enough." She walked to the door as there was a knock.

"Do you want to leave soon?" Carlton questioned as he watched Bobby and Jo enter.

"Maybe, we'll see. We like to play games after dinner. My mom only plays poker or Scrabble, so hopefully she'll be busy with Adam." She watched as Amy ushered them into the dining room. "I'm going to miss having dinner with my family. We try to meet at least once a month, usually without my parents, and rotate who's house we are at. I ended up drawing the short straw for Thanksgiving, mainly because I have the most room, but also since I hadn't been around."

Carlton rubbed her arm as she stared at her can. "Once you find your own place, you are more than welcome to drag me away to eat meals with you, as long as I'm not working."

She smirked as she looked at him, "Oh I will. I also plan on taking you away from the station if you stay too late after your shift has ended."

Carlton groaned as Amy poked her head out of the dining room. "Hey guys, food's ready, come and get it."

Standing up, Carlton held out his hand as Beth reluctantly took it and groaned, "Is there any way that we can just grab food and run?"

"Aren't you the guest of honor?"

"Technically, except I think you share that title with me tonight." She turned around and gave him a tight hug while whispering, "Thanks for being here. I would have definitely run by now if I was alone."

Nodding, he returned the embrace. "That's what friends for are."

They stood like that for about a minute until Beth let go with a sigh. "Alright, attempt number 2 is a go." She gave him a salute as she turned to walk down the hall.

She led him past the dining room and into the kitchen where Amy was currently serving herself a plate.

"Ah good, I was afraid that you were ditching." Amy commented as she stepped aside to give them room.

"Trust me, I thought about it." Beth mumbled as she started serving herself.

Smiling, Amy patted Carlton's shoulder as she left the room.

"Look, lasagna, garlic bread, salad with tons of toppings and probably brownie sundaes for desert. I love when Amy cooks!"

"Yeah, I think she might cook better than you. Ow!" Carlton rubbed his arm as Beth glared at him for a second before smiling.

"Maybe I should leave you here with Adam, he seems to like you."

"You wouldn't dare! Besides, you shouldn't be driving. I'll call the police on you."

Beth stuck out her tongue as she continued filling her plate. "Okay, point taken. I don't trust me to drive either. It's definitely starting to affect me." She shook her head as she grabbed silverware.

"Are you okay?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "I haven't seen you even slightly drunk before."

Beth laughed as she shook him off. "That's because I hardly ever drink. It usually makes me very sleepy." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I probably shouldn't have had that much alcohol on an empty stomach."

"Are you sure you want to stay?"

"Yes! Just let me eat and I'll perk up a bit!" She snapped as she marched to the door. Stopping, she whispered, "Please don't leave me alone."

"I won't, I promise."

She smiled as she leaned against the wall and waited for him to finish grabbing food.

When they reentered the dining room, the only available seats were by her parents. Taking a deep breath, she took the seat next to her dad as Carlton sat between her and Dan. They slowly joined the conversations happening around them.


	6. Chapter 6

_**CHAPTER 6**_

As the dishes were cleared, Jo spoke up, "So Beth, what ever happened to Fred?"

Carlton felt Beth stiffen as she tried to keep her face neutral. She glanced at Amy before shrugging, "I don't know. I haven't seen Fred in months."

"Really? That's weird." Bobby looked questionably at Beth as he leaned forward, "Because the last time I saw Fred was when I told him that you were in California. He basically disappeared after that. Then a couple weeks later, I ran into Kevin who said that Fred had been arrested and sent to prison. Wouldn't tell me why or even where he was sent."

She found Carlton's hand under the table and gripped it tightly as she said, "I really don't know what to tell you. I'm not Fred's keeper."

"Yeah, but you guys were getting along so well before you left in June. He was considering asking you to marry him when you left." Bobby shrugged as he played with his beer bottle.

"Hey, why don't we play a game. Cards anyone?" Amy asked as she stood up.

Beth had gone pale and Carlton was about to ask if she was okay when she suddenly got up from the table and rushed from the room. As everyone else stared at the door, Carlton shared a look with Amy as he stood to go after her.

Amy laughed as he slipped past, "It's probably just the flu. Meg's kids are sick and they most likely passed it to her. Now, are we playing poker? Or something else?"

There was only one door partially open as Carlton walked down the hallway. Making sure that no one else was following, he quickly slipped in the room and shut the door. Beth was kneeling on the floor, clutching the toilet as she vomited. He gently pulled her hair back as he kneeled behind her.

Once she was done, she leaned back into him with her eyes closed. They sat like that for a few good minutes until there was a knock at the door. Since it didn't look like Beth was going to move anytime soon, Carlton gruffly called out, "Yeah?"

Amy quietly came in with a glass of water. "Here, I thought she could use this."

Nodding, Carlton took the glass as he nudged her shoulder. "Beth, can you rinse out your mouth?"

Groaning, she took the glass as she bent over the toilet. Once she was done and swallowed the rest of the water, she leaned against Carlton again as she looked at Amy. "What's the damage?"

"They think Meg's kids passed the flu to you since they're currently sick." Amy shrugged as she leaned against the door.

Nodding, Beth asked, "Did you know that about Fred? That he was going to propose?"

"No." Amy said angrily. "I can't believe that Bobby was able to keep it a secret so long! Especially since he was always so fond of Fred!"

Beth laughed as she shivered, "Yeah, I'm surprised that Bobby never asked Fred to marry him."

"Yeah, he talked about him enough." Amy sighed, "It really hit him hard when he found out about Fred being arrested. He kept bugging me to ask you, but I told him that you didn't know anything."

"Thanks." Beth looked at Carlton and patted his hand. "Come on Carlytown, let's get off this cold floor."

"You call me that again and I might leave you here." Carlton growled as she got off him.

"Fine. Come on Lassie! Let's go!" She even whistled as she tried to walk over him, only to stumble and fall onto him.

Shaking her head, Amy said, "I think she's officially drunk and that you should take her home. I'll take care of the parents."

Nodding, Carlton got up first and then pulled Beth up as she giggled, "Amy, I think you need softer bathroom floors."

"I'll think about it when we're looking for a new home."

"Hey! Do you want to buy mine? I mean, it's got 3 bedrooms, plenty of space in the living and dining rooms and a huge kitchen. Then you can get a dog like you always wanted!"

Amy shook her head as she opened the door, "I'll think about it, sis, but it's a far drive for Dan everyday."

Carlton pulled Beth's arm around his shoulders as he place one of his own around her waist. "How the hell did you get drunk so quickly? You didn't have that much to drink!"

"My dad passed me some vodka while you and Dan were discussing something. I don't remember what."

Amy laughed as they stopped at the dining room door. "Beth isn't feeling well, so they're going to leave now."

"It was nice meeting you all." Carlton smiled as Beth nodded and tried to pull him towards the front door.

They were just opening the door when a voice called out, "Elizabeth! A word!"

Beth groaned, "So close," as she let go of Carlton to follow her mother into the kitchen.

Carlton shared a look with Amy as they waited for Beth to return. It was barely a minute later when Beth came storming out of the kitchen and marched right up to Carlton. He barely caught sight of her mother when Beth reached up and kissed him hard. He stood there stunned as desperate lips attacked his own. When she finally pulled back, she grinned at him as she turned toward her mother, who was quietly fuming.

"There, now I'm the one taking advantage of him. If anything happens tonight, it'll be my fault, not his, so back off!"

With that, she grabbed his hand and marched out of the apartment, not slowing down until they were at the car.

"Beth, what …?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" She snapped as she crossed her arms.

"Now wait just a damn minute! I know you're upset but you don't have to take it out on me. I could have you arrested for assaulting an officer!" Carlton replied as he got right in her face.

"Just open the door Carlton and let's go!" She snapped as she furiously brushed tears away.

Observing her tears, he quickly deflated and unlocked her door before running around and getting in.

They had been driving for 3 minutes and Carlton was about to ask if she was okay when Beth whispered, "Pull over."

He glanced at her as he turned into an empty parking lot. She was holding her stomach with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. As he put the car into park, she quickly unbuckled and ran to the nearest trash can.

Since it was starting to rain again, he grabbed the umbrella and followed her. Seeing her arms shaking, he wrapped one of his own arms around her waist and waited it out.

Once she was done, she sagged against the trash can. Tightening his hold on her, Carlton waited a minute before asking, "Do you think that you can make it to the car."

Beth nodded before wordlessly standing up and walking back to the car, Carlton keeping his arm around her. Once in, she took off her shoes before curling up. Sighing, Carlton grabbed the seatbelt and gently buckled it around her.

After going around and getting in himself, he tried turning on the heater but nothing happened.

"The a/c broke somewhere around Denver." Beth mumbled as she pulled her arms inside of her shirt.

"And when were you planning on telling me this?" He asked as he looked in the backseat for a blanket or jacket or something.

"I don't know. Probably after asking Bobby to fix it. I was going to ask him tonight, but whatever."

Carlton shook his head as he grabbed the umbrella. "I'll be right back, I'm going to check the trunk for a blanket."

"You won't find one."

"And why not?"

"Because I took them out yesterday to wash them and haven't gotten around to putting them back."

He sighed as he looked out the window. "Fine. I'm going to go to that dollar store across the street and get something, okay?"

"Okay, I'll just wait here." Beth mumbled as she closed her eyes.

Nodding, Carlton drove the car across the street and parked. Taking one more look at Beth, he got out and tried to make his trip as quick as possible.

When he got back to the car 8 minutes later, Beth was fast asleep. Placing the bags in the back seat, he gently shook Beth's shoulder. She moaned as she shifted away from him. Sighing, he tried again. "Come on Beth, I need you to wake up."

"Why?" Beth whined as she opened her eyes.

"Well, for one thing, I bought you some anti-nausea medicine, but I need you to drink something first."

She groaned as she uncurled herself a little, "I hate taking medicine, you know that."

"Yeah, I do, but this should at least make you feel better until we get you home."

"Fine," she sighed as she sat up straighter. Looking in the back seat, she asked, "How much stuff did you buy?"

"Well, the blankets didn't look too warm, so I bought two of them and got you a sweater. There's also a couple bottles of Gatorade, water, the anti-nausea medicine and a bucket with a lid incase you do throw up again."

Beth laughed as she took a bottle of water. "Okay boy scout, hand me that sweater."

* * *

><p>By the time they reached her house, it was pouring out and the temperature had dropped. Pulling into the garage, he waited until the door closed before turning off the engine and looking at Beth. She was curled towards the door, huddled under both blankets. Unbuckling, he got out and walked around the car. She barely flinched when he opened her door and brushed her cheek. Her skin was slightly cold and he was concerned about alcohol poisoning.<p>

Squatting down, he thought about his options. He could either wake her up and have her walk or carry her but get wet in the process. Remembering the gate, Carlton ran out with an umbrella to close it as he thought. It was maybe a 30 foot run to the door, so they wouldn't get too wet. Making up his mind, he unlocked the back door first, greeting a very happy dog jumping on the other side. Letting Frisco out, Carlton made his way back to the car as Frisco followed. Beth mumbled a bit when Frisco licked her hand but still didn't wake up.

"Shoo, doggy." Carlton said as he unbuckled Beth and started to lift her. Frisco decided to be more of a hindrance than a help and Carlton kept almost tripping on him on his way to the garage door. He pushed Frisco out of the way before he quickly jogged to the house. Frisco seemed to get the message and went to investigate the yard.

Even in that short run, they had both gotten soaked. Sighing, Carlton toed his shoes off before walking through the house and placing Beth on the couch. He took both blankets and the sweater off her and wrapped her up in a blanket that was on the back of the couch.

As he went to throw the wet blankets in the dryer, Frisco was standing outside the door looking drenched. Trying to stop his own shivering, Carlton opened the door and let him in. Of course, the dog decided that he was too wet and shook, getting Carlton in the process. Grumbling, Carlton grabbed a towel and dried Frisco off as best as he could.

While the dog ran off, Carlton took his shirt off and started the dryer. When he went back into the living room, he found it empty. Shivering slightly, Carlton decided to throw on some dry clothes before finding out what happened.

He was almost to his room when he heard retching coming from across the hall. Sighing, he went to the bathroom, detouring to the linen closet to grab some towels. Not surprisingly, Beth was hovering over the toilet, trying to hold her hair back as she shivered. Carlton quickly took up the position he held less than an hour ago and waited for the attack to subside.

Finally, Beth collapsed against him as she shivered. "C-carly. I don't, I don't feel s-so good."

"I know." Carlton ignored the name as he wrapped the towels around her.

When she still hadn't stopped shivering after a couple minutes, Carlton reached over and turned the shower facet on. Once it was warm enough, he nudged Beth. "Hey, let's get you in the tub so you can warm up."

"You, you know. I wa-was just joking with m-m-my mom. I really did-didn't think that we would, would get n-naked together." She stuttered as Carlton carefully sat up.

"Yeah, well it's not exactly what your mom had in mind. Now come on, we need to warm you up or it's a trip to the hospital."

"N-no hospital," She shivered as they stood up.

"Okay, but you need to get in the tub, with or without your clothes is your choice."

Beth laughed as she started stripping. "Like y-you haven't seen what, what I've got b-before."

Carlton just shook his head as he watched her shakily complete the task. When she had trouble unclasping her bra, Carlton reached a hand out. "Here, let me help." He quickly got her bra off and helped her keep her balanced as she took her underwear off. Trying not to look, he guided her into the tub.

"It's h-hot!" She whined as she hopped from foot to foot.

"I know, but it'll help, trust me. Now sit down." He kept an hand at her elbow as she slowly sat and pulled her knees up. He adjusted the spray so that it was hitting her back.

It took about 10 minutes until she was warm enough and she started falling asleep. Nudging her awake, Carlton held up a towel as she got out. She silently let him lead her into her bedroom.

Sitting her on the bed, Carlton went to her dresser, "So, anything in particular that you want to wear?"

Beth shook her head as she got up shakily. "No, but I got it." Carlton held her elbow as she started rummaging through her drawers. She almost fell over twice before she grabbed what she needed. He looked away as she dropped her towel and quickly dressed.

She tripped on the way back to her bed and groaned as her knees hit the ground. "Ow, so not helping my headache."

"Maybe you shouldn't have drunk so much." Carlton commented as he helped her up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she mumbled as she crawled under the sheets. "I think this is only the second time I've ever gotten so drunk."

"Really, when was the first?" he pulled the blanket up as she closed her eyes.

"Last June after the charges were dropped against Fred. Susie and I went to a bar and she let me get wasted. The next day, I packed up and left this stupid town behind."

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

"Okay. Are you staying?"

Sighing, he moved to the other side of the bed. "For a few minutes, until you fall asleep."

As he laid down, Beth rolled over and put her head on her chest. "Okay. Thanks Carly."

She was quiet for a few minutes and Carlton thought that she had fallen asleep when she whispered, "Have I ever talked about my mother?"

"Besides what you told me today? Not really. Go to sleep, we'll talk in the morning." He petted her hair as she mumbled something.

Eventually, the events of the past 2 days caught up with him and he fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

_**CHAPTER 7**_

The ringing of his cell phone woke him up hours later. Groaning, Carlton quickly answered before he had woken up enough to check the caller id. "Lassiter." He barked quietly, hearing Beth mumble as she shifted next to him.

"Hey Carlton! How's it going?"

"O'Hara it's," he checked the alarm clock and groaned. "It's almost midnight here. Is there any particular reason why you're calling?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it was so late. Were you sleeping?"

"Yes. My flight was delayed so I didn't get any sleep last night. I'll ask again, why are you calling?" Rubbing his face, he noticed that there was a weight on his chest. Looking down, he found Murphy fast asleep on him.

"I was just checking in."

"Well we're fine. It's been raining all day and slowly getting colder. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to sleep. Goodnight."

"Okay, call me!" Juliet said quickly as he hung up.

Putting the phone back into his pocket, Carlton turned to the cat laying on him. Poking Murphy, Carlton whispered, "Get off me cat." Murphy just lifted his head and stared at him before laying back down. "I'm not kidding, get off me!" he growled as he poked the cat again.

"Smurf get off of Carly," Beth mumbled as she turned onto her back and looked at Carlton. "What time is it?"

"Midnight. Now go back to sleep." He replied as he watched Murphy get off of him and settle on Beth's stomach.

"Okie dokie. Leave your door open a crack in case Salem is in there." She closed her eyes as she placed a hand on Murphy.

"Thanks. I'll see you in the morning." Carlton whispered as he got out from under the covers.

"Mmhmm."

Shaking his head, Carlton quietly made his way to the guestroom. As he started emptying his pockets, an orange blur shot past him out the door. Shaking his head slightly, he closed his door before changing into sweats and crawling under the covers.

* * *

><p>A loud clash had Carlton bolting awake and grabbing his gun from the end table. In the few seconds it took for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, he noticed two things: there was a strong thunderstorm outside and the power was out. Sighing, Carlton put his gun back and picked up his phone. It was a little after 7, so he figured that he might as well get up.<p>

Grabbing his robe, Carlton made his way downstairs after a brief visit to the bathroom. Stopping in the doorway of the kitchen, he found Beth rummaging through the cupboards, pausing every few seconds to sneeze and blow her nose. He observed for a minute before saying, "You know, you should probably go back to bed if you're not feeling well."

Beth squeaked as she turned around to face him, a hand going to her chest and looking at him with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh Carlton, don't do that! I'm al-already ah-choo! *sniffle* Already on edge from the storm, I don't need you scaring me."

"Sorry, I didn't realize…."

"It's okay. I was just looking for my tea bags and instant coffee . I know that I had some for Thanksgiving and Crissy is more of a Starbucks person." She returned to her search as she continued sneezing.

Looking at the stove, he noticed that there was a tea kettle that was almost boiling. "Oh, you have a gas oven?"

"Yeah, it was here when I moved in and I never felt like replacing it. Besides, it's good for days like today when the power goes out. It happens a few times a year so I always have long-stem matches nearby, just in case. Ah-ha!" Beth reached up to grab something off the top shelf, only to sneeze and whack her head on the adjacent cupboard door. "Ow, okay that hurt."

Carlton moved forward as she held her forehead and leaned over the counter. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled into her arms. "It's just that between my hangover and the sinus headache I'm getting, that so did not help."

"Why don't you let me fix you some tea while you sit down."

"Okay," Beth whispered as she sneezed again.

Carlton watched as she slowly made her way to the island and put her head down. He took down the teabags and looked at the instant coffee. He wasn't really a fan of instant, but it was Folgers, so it would probably be better than the station coffee. Setting the containers down gently, he was about to look for cups when he heard a weird scratching noise.

"I need to let Frisco in." Beth mumbled as she started to get up.

Carlton walked over and gently pushed her back down as she sneezed. "I'll get him. I don't need you tripping and cracking your head open."

"Fine. Just make sure you dry him off well. Besides, Bobby's the one that usually cracks his head open."

"I don't think I want to know." Grabbing a towel, Carlton opened the door and let Frisco in. He looked completely drenched and a bit sad as Carlton quickly dried him off.

"Just so you know, I was only partially responsible one time, the other two times were entirely his own fault." Beth muttered as Carlton shook his head.

Once Carlton was done, the dog just stared at him. "Go on, shoo doggy," Carlton said as he tried to push the dog away. Frisco continued to stare at him until Beth whistled. Frisco quickly jogged to Beth and smelled her hand before going over to his food bowl.

As the kettle whistled, Carlton quickly turned it off and grabbed a couple mugs that were in the dish drainer. It was pretty quiet while he was fixing the cups until a particularly loud clash of thunder sounded, spooking Beth who squeaked and almost fell off her chair, Holding back his smirk, Carlton handed over the tea before leaning against the counter. He was right, it was slightly better than the station coffee.

Once she had drunk half her tea, Beth stood up. "I'm going to go get dressed and then we can go somewhere, ah-choo, and eat breakfast. Is Denny's okay?"

"Yeah," Carlton nodded as he watched Beth shakily make her towards the stairs.

* * *

><p>While they were waiting for their food, Beth had laid her head down on the table. The only signs that she wasn't asleep were the occasional sneezes and when her face screwed up in pain when there was a loud noise in the kitchen.<p>

Leaning over, Carlton asked, "Did you just want to go? There's no point in suffering."

"No, I'll be fine. Hopefully my cold and headache medicine will kick in soon," she mumbled as she switched which arm she was laying on.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes until the waitress came back with the plates. Seeing how unwell Beth looked, the waitress quietly asked, "Is there anything else that I can get for you today?"

"No, I think that we're fine but can you get the check ready, just in case?" Carlton smiled politely.

"Of course sweetie. Enjoy."

After she left, Beth continued to lay on the table. Shaking her shoulder slightly, he asked, "Beth? Are you going to eat?"

"I'm thinking about it." She sniffled as she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Remind me to never get drunk if we're going to go somewhere the next morning. This is so not fun."

Carlton smiled as he turned to his cooling plate.

* * *

><p>10 minutes later, Beth groaned and set down her fork. Carlton was about to ask what was wrong when she pulled out her cell phone, which was vibrating. Looking at the caller ID, she made a face before putting it down and going back to her food half-heartedly.<p>

When she ignored it for a second time, Carlton asked, "Who's that?"

"My mother."

When she didn't elaborate, he asked, "Any particular reason why you're ignoring her call?"

"Because I know exactly what she wants to talk about and I'm not in the mood!" She snapped before sighing and dropping her fork. "I've lost my appetite. I'm going to call my neighbor and see if the power's back on."

Carlton watched her leave and find a place outside that was dry. The waitress came over not too long after with the check. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, just under the weather." Carlton pulled out a twenty. "Do I leave this with you?"

"You can. Did you want any change?"

"No, keep it." He replied as he stood up and grabbed their coats.

"Thank you very much! And I hope that your friend feels better real soon."

"Thanks." Carlton smiled as he went outside and stood next to Beth who was still on the phone.

"Yes Ms Wilson, I'll be sure to stop by sometime this week." Beth smiled at Carlton as she continued, "Yes, you did hear correctly. I'm moving out to California next week. Yeah, I'll tell you all about it when I see you. Okay, have a good day and keep warm. Bye." Beth hung up with a sigh. "Sorry, that was my neighbor and she loves to talk. She sort of adopted me when I first moved in next door to her and she loves Frisco. Anyways, she said that the power came back on about 10 minutes ago, so we should be fine with buying groceries."

"Okay," Carlton nodded as he handed over her coat. "Where is the closest grocery store?"

"About 5 minutes back the way we came, we went right past it."

"Okay."

They had just pulled out of the parking lot when Beth's phone went off again. She smiled when she saw the caller ID and answered right away, "Hey sis, how's it going? Oh, you know, headache, nausea, fatigue and guess what? I've got a cold on top of that! Yeah, I took some medicine and it only took about a half hour to kick in. We went out for breakfast. Well, between the power going out and not having any food in the house, there wasn't much of a choice. Oh hang on." She lowered the phone and pointed, "You're turning right at this next light and then at the second light, turn left. The store is called Giant Eagle in big, blue letters, can't miss it." Lifting the phone, she continued, "Sorry, we're on the way to the grocery store right now and Carlton is driving. Yeah she called me, but I didn't pick up. Okay, I'll call her right after I hang up with you. No, I promise. Okay, luv ya too. Bye." Beth sighed as she lowered the phone.

After a couple seconds, Carlton said, "I thought that you were going to call your mother as soon as you hung up."

She glared at him as she said, "I will, just give me a minute. I'm sick and hungover. I need to mentally prepare myself before talking to my mother."

"Okay." Carlton turned his attention back to the road as the light changed.

Sighing, Beth picked up her phone and dialed. It only took 3 seconds before it was connected. "Hey mom. No, I'm fine, just a little sick. Yes I took some medicine. Yes, we already ate. We're actually about to go to the store so I can't talk long. I told you last night, I can take care of myself. Besides, he's a very strict, by-the-rules kind of cop. If you don't believe me, then why don't you call his boss and find out!" Beth snapped before laughing mirthlessly. "You're not serious, are you? I was joking! Fine! You got a pen ready? Okay. Santa Barbara Police Department and ask for Police Chief Karen Vick. Yes, she's a women. She's been chief for 5 years now. Really, mom? You don't remember? *Sigh* Detective Carlton Lassiter. Yeah, like the dog. Okay, I've got to go. Bye."

She hung up quickly and stared at her phone. "I can't believe her, she's actually going to call your boss."

"Seriously?" Carlton asked as he turned into the parking lot of the grocery store.

"Yeah. That's one conversation that I would love to hear."

"I hope she at least waits a couple hours. Karen would not appreciate a call at 5am asking about me."

Beth started laughing at that. "Oh my gosh, that would be something! But my mom's pretty smart, she'll wait a few hours, maybe until it's about 10am there."

"Let's hope so. I would hate to think of what Karen would do to me if that happened."

"And me. I probably wouldn't be allowed back in the police station unless it was official police business." Beth sneezed as they parked. "Alright, our goal is to get at least a weeks worth of food, possibly more. Amy and Susie are taking care of the food for Saturday, so we don't have to worry about that, especially since they won't tell me how many people are coming."

"Okay, do you have a list?"

"Nope. It probably would have been easier to write down what I did have. Oh well. We'll just wing it."

"I guess so." Carlton shook his head as they unbuckled and got out.


	8. Chapter 8

_**CHAPTER 8**_

An hour later, they were still adding things to their almost full cart. Beth was pushing the cart, explaining that she preferred having something to do so that she didn't get too distracted. But over the past few minutes, her pace had gotten slower and slower. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Carlton asked, "Hey, do you want me to take the cart."

She shook her head as she looked in the closest freezer case. "No, I, I've got it."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should take a break."

"No! I said I got it!" She snapped as she whipped her head around to look at him. She immediately closed her eyes and whispered, "Crap."

"Beth? Are you okay?" He noticed that she was sweating slightly and that her skin looked clammy.

Beth reached out a hand to him right before her body relaxed and she fainted.

"Oh sweet justice," Carlton muttered as he caught her before she could hit the floor. He lowered her the rest of the way and propped her head in his lap. "Beth? Come on, wake up!"

"Sir, is she okay?"

Carlton glared at the store employee who barely looked 18. "Does she look okay? She fainted."

"O-okay. Pro-procedure says that I, I have to report this to m-m-management and call an ambulance." The kid stuttered as he took out his walkie talkie.

"Fine. But while you're standing there, get me a bottle of Gatorade out of the cart." Feeling how hot she was, Carlton added, "And grab me a couple bags of frozen vegetables or something."

"Y-yes, sir." The kid walked away as he started talking into the walkie talkie.

Ignoring the gawking that they were starting to attract, Carlton turned back to trying to get Beth to wake up. "Come on, time to wake up." Still getting no response, he checked her pulse, which was kind of slow. Lifting her up slightly, he started taking her coat off.

As he was lowering her back down, the kid came back and handed over a few bags of peas before going to the cart and grabbing some Gatorade. "The manager will be right over and the ambulance should be here in a couple minutes."

"Good." Carlton placed one bag on Beth's forehead and one on her stomach. She shivered slightly, which Carlton took as a good sign. A second later, she slowly opened her eyes. Carlton smiled at her and asked, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Sick and gross," Beth mumbled as she tried to push the bags off of her.

Gently taking her hands, Carlton said, "Leave those there. You're burning up and they'll help to cool you down."

She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm thirsty."

"Okay. I've got some Gatorade here, is that alright?" Seeing her nod, he opened the bottle and lifted her head a little. She had just finished taking a couple sips when someone walked over quickly and joined them.

"Hello, my name is Greg and I'm the manager on duty today. The ambulance should be here momentarily." Hearing the sirens, Greg corrected, "Is here now. Teddy, please go meet the medics and bring them back here." The kid nodded nervously before taking off at a quick walk towards the front doors. "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Can you get some of these spectators to back off?" Carlton said quietly as Beth sneezed.

"Of course." Greg turned to the crowd at large and said, "Excuse me, but this aisle is temporarily closed. We will let you know when you came come back down."

Beth smiled as she heard people moving. "All this commotion for little old me?"

"Well, you're a very special person," Carlton said as he brushed the sweat soaked hair off her forehead.

"I'm sorry." Beth sighed as she looked him straight in the eye.

"For what?"

"For always making things difficult. This isn't exactly how you were planning on spending your vacation, was it?"

"No, but I'm spending it with you, that's all that matters."

Beth covered her mouth, "Aw, you're going to make me cry!"

"I don't think that you need to lose anymore fluids," Carlton commented as a medic knelt down next to them.

He looked barely older than Beth as he smiled and said, "I agree with your friend, you're looking a bit dehydrated." Taking her hand to count her pulse, he said, "Hi, I'm John. Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm Beth and this is my shiny, white knight and occasional guard dog, Carlton." Beth smiled as Carlton groaned.

John smiled as he started writing down her stats. "And can you tell me what happened?"

"Can't you just ask Carlton, he saw the whole thing and probably knows more than me." Beth wiggled a bit as John started to put the blood pressure cuff on her arm.

Carlton smiled as he looked at her. "He's testing your memory, so you should answer him."

"Fine," Beth huffed as she looked past their heads to stare at the ceiling. "I'm slightly hungover from last night, plus I now have a cold. I guess I overexerted myself and fainted. When I woke up, Carlton was placing freezing cold bags on me and wouldn't let me take them off!"

John nodded as he took a thermometer out and put it in her ear. "And Carlton, would you agree with her statement?"

"Yes, I was trying to convince her to take a break when she sort of paused and reached out to me before fainting. I barely caught her and then lowered her to the floor."

"Okay." John wrote some more before taking out a stethoscope. "I'm going to need you to sit up slowly."

Beth nodded before complying, Carlton keeping a steady hand on her shoulder.

"Okay, I just need you to breath normally." John slowly moved the stethoscope up and down her back as she breathed. "Alright, you can relax now, but I want you to stay sitting. Do you have any history of heart disease or diabetes in your family?"

"No, I don't" Beth replied as she moved to lean against the freezer.

"Okay. Well, your temperature is a little high at 100.2 degrees and if it gets much higher or you feel faint again, I want you to go to the hospital, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

John picked up his bag. "And make sure that you're treating that cold with plenty of fluids and rest."

"Okay, thanks John." Beth smiled.

"Alright then, have a good day." John smiled as he stood up and headed back out the store.

Greg hurried forward and asked, "Is there anything that I can do for you?"

Carlton shook his head, "No, I think that we're just going to finish shopping and go."

Greg nodded, "Okay, very well. I hope that you feel better Miss." Giving them one more smile, he turned and left the aisle, pausing to say something to one of the employees stationed at the end of the aisle.

Carlton looked over to see a strange look on Beth's face. Touching her shoulder, he asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I was just wondering if he remembered me."

"Who, John?"

"Yeah. I went to school and church with him. Haven't seen him in over 10 years and I've changed a bit. He was always so nice to me when his friends were such jerks. I had a crush on him for the longest time but never got the courage to do anything about it." She smiled as she looked at him. "He was the class clown and always managed to make me smile or laugh."

Feeling a bit uncomfortable about this conversation, Carlton asked, "And how do you feel about him now?"

"I don't know, but I already have someone to make me smile." Beth grinned widely at his blush. "Yep, Shawn knows exactly what to say to get me to smile or laugh." When his face dropped she laughed at him. "I'm kidding! I mean, he does make me laugh but I prefer smiling with you."

"Don't you mean at me?"

"Isn't that what I said?" She looked at him innocently.

Groaning, Carlton got up and offered her a hand, "Come on, we should get going before some of these groceries go bad."

"Alright." She held onto the cart as Carlton grabbed her coat and the groceries off the floor. "I think we still need chicken nuggets and garlic bread."

"Okay, I've got it." He quickly went down the aisle and when he came back, Beth was leaning heavily on the cart. "Are you alright?"

Beth nodded as she smiled at him. "Yeah, just resting."

"Okay, let's go find you someplace to sit."

"No, I'll be fine!" She whined as Carlton started pushing her and the cart towards the checkout lines.

"I know you will, but for right now, I want you to sit down." He spotted some seats at the pharmacy on the other side of the checkout counters. Leaving the cart near one of the lanes, he guided Beth towards the seats and sat her down. "Now stay here until I come get you."

"Woof," Beth said as she slouched down.

"Smartass," Carlton mumbled as he returned to the cart, glancing back at Beth every so often.

* * *

><p>When they got back to her house, Beth was still a little weak so Carlton helped her inside and onto the couch. Frisco, after making a quick trip outside, jumped up on the couch with her. Handing her the remote and a bottle of Gatorade, Carlton told her to rest while he brought in the groceries. She sighed but didn't say anything, just turned on the TV and started flipping channels.<p>

When Carlton had put away most of the groceries, the stuff he was unsure of were set on the counter, he went back into the living room to find Beth fast asleep on her side between the couch back and Frisco. Carefully placing a blanket over them, he stood back and smiled at her peaceful expression. Taking out his phone, Carlton went into the kitchen and dialed Juliet. It was still a bit early, but Juliet should be up already. If not, well, payback's a bitch.


	9. Chapter 9

_**CHAPTER 9**_

Realizing that he had fallen asleep shortly after hanging up with Juliet, Carlton stretched as he looked at his watch. It was almost noon, which meant that he had been sleeping for about 2 hours. Standing, he went into the living room, but found it empty. He was about to check upstairs when he heard some shuffling coming from the door to his left. Pushing it open revealed steps going down and a light that was on down there. Shaking his head, Carlton preceded downstairs.

At the bottom, there was a short hallway with 3 doors leading off it, the middle one opened slightly with light spilling out. Frisco greeted him at the door before leading him towards the back of the 20ft by 6ft room, boxes all along the walls, to where Beth was going through a box, a small smile on her face. Sitting down next to her, he peered into the box and frowned at all the random objects.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "What's all this?"

"My memory box;"

"Memory box?"

"Yeah, it's like a scrapbook except these things are too big to fit between pages. See, here's my award for getting honor roll. It seems silly to me to get a plaque for one semester, but whatever." She sniffled as she moved some things around. "And here's some pieces of wood that I saved from my first mission trip."

"Wood?"

"Yeah, well there weren't a lot of options on a worksite and I was only 14 at the time. I meant to turn them into bookends or something but never got around to it. And here's the collar of my first puppy. We only had her for 6 months when she went running back and forth between traffic and got hit by a car. We had to put her down. I was only 12 at the time and it devastated me because it was the first pet that I experienced death with. I was actually in the room, petting her, when the vet euthanized her, Amy was in the next room crying. I seem to cope better when I'm with my pets when they die."

She sniffled as she looked over at Frisco, who was laying by the door and watching them. "One of the reasons that I got a mutt was because they usually live longer. Frisco was 3 when I got him and I basically saved him from death row. They were a week from putting him down since no one wanted him. I was suppose to get a different dog, more energetic, but someone had already claimed her, so I got Frisco instead. And I've never regretted it."

Frisco got up at this point and came over to Beth, nuzzling her. She laughed as she started rubbing his fur. "He's such a good dog and always knows when I need to be comforted. Occasionally the cats will try to cuddle with me, but I prefer Frisco, cause he's my buddy!"

"Your best friend?" Carlton asked as he gently petted Frisco's back.

Beth smiled as she looked at him, "My best friend of the pet persuasion and you're my best guy friend. So I've got my two favorite guys with me right now, and I couldn't be happier!" A meow made them look over towards the door where Murphy was rubbing against it. Beth laughed as she closed the box and pushed it to the side. "And there's my favorite cuddle cat, telling me that he's hungry since I haven't opened the new bag of cat food yet."

"You're suppose to be resting and taking it easy," Carlton said as they got up and started making their way upstairs.

"I am taking it easy. Did you not see me sitting on the ground while going through boxes? I've even been taking my medicine and checking my temperature like a good girl, so you don't have to worry. "

"You taking medicine? You must be feeling bad." Carlton commented as he walked behind her up the stairs incase she stumbled.

"I know! But I want to get better as soon as possible so I can take you sight seeing. There are so many places that I want to take you and only a week and a half to do them in!" She stopped at the kitchen table and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and whined, "I hate being sick! It always makes me feel so run down!"

"All the more reason to get better sooner." Carlton said as he rubbed her back. "Did you want something to drink?"

"Yeah, just water." She took another deep breath before pushing off the table and walking over to the pets' food bowls. There was a water bowl and food bowl on the floor and another food bowl on the counter above. "I have to keep the cats' food off the floor or Frisco will eat it. I only put a cup of food in the cat bowl a day, so if they run out, then it's their own fault." She opened the cat food and used a plastic cup to scope out some. She then shook the cup as she called, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

She was immediately met by both Frisco and Murphy. As Beth put the cat food in the bowl, Murphy jumped up on the counter and started eating. As Carlton handed her a glass of water, there was another meow coming from the living room. Beth smiled as she looked over. "There's Salem, right on time. Come here kitty, Carlton's not going to hurt you, is he?"

"He leaves me alone, I'll leave him alone." Carlton said, backing away as an orange and white tabby cautiously made his way into the room.

Salem took one look at Carlton before hopping up on the table and meowing. Beth sat down next to him and started petting him. "I'm going to give Murphy another minute before I give Salem a chance. I don't know why Salem doesn't like Murphy, other than him invading on his turf."

Carlton looked between the two of them before saying, "It's probably the size difference, Murphy is at least 3 times bigger than Salem."

"Yeah, but Murphy is a sweetheart. The only intimidating thing he will do is follow Salem around, like he wants to play or something. He doesn't even seemed scared of Salem except when Salem tries to swipe at him. Even then, Murphy would just stare at him and lay down."

"I'll never understand cats," Carlton muttered as he looked around the kitchen. "Anything in particular that you want for lunch?"

"Something simple, like peanut butter and jelly. But you don't have to limit yourself to that." Beth said as she stood and picked Murphy up.

"No, peanut butter and jelly sounds fine." Carlton got out the bread as Frisco tried to get in the way.

* * *

><p>After lunch, Beth grabbed her coat and shoes. "Come on, there's somewhere that I want to take you."<p>

"Okay, am I driving?"

"No, I'm going to drive there but I might have you drive on the way back." Beth smiled slightly as she went to the door and grabbed an umbrella. "You ready?"

"Sure," Carlton replied as he followed her outside.

The ride was quiet, Beth hadn't even turned on the radio, which Carlton knew was a bad sign. When they stopped at a bridge, he asked, "So, where are we going?"

"Visiting." She simply said.

"Okay, who are we visiting?"

She laughed sadly as she turned onto another street. "Someone that I haven't seen in a really long time."

When she didn't continue, Carlton pulled out the map and tried to figure out where they were so he could get them back.

"Don't worry." Beth said as she concentrated on the road. "It's easy to get back. I just felt like taking the side streets because of how quiet and pretty it is."

Carlton wasn't sure about calling it pretty since it was still raining but there was definitely less traffic.

When they stopped at another light, Beth said. "We're turning right but if we turned left, we would hit Fairmount and then you'd just follow that back, got it?"

"Yeah, I think so. Does that mean that we're almost there?" Carlton asked as he looked on the map and found the street they were about to turn on to.

"Yep." She became quiet again as the light changed.

About 10 seconds later, Carlton understood why as they entered a cemetery.

Once she parked the car, Beth finally turned to him. "As you probably figured out, my grandmother's buried here, as well as my grandfather, but he died before I was born. You don't have to come out if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine, I'll come."

She smiled as she reached back to grab the umbrella. "I'm not entirely sure where the graves are since I've only been here twice in the last thirteen years. I think that they're in one of these two sections. If I'm wrong, we can just wander until we either find them or get tired."

"Are you sure that you're in the right cemetery?" Carlton asked as they got out.

"Yes, I am. It's just that the first time I came here, it was in a limo that was following the hearse. It was dark out the second time and my cousin was leading the way. We were drinking that night, so the details are a bit hazy." She took his arm and started leading him through the rows.

"I thought that you never got drunk before last year."

"No, but it was the fifth anniversary of grandma's death and I overdid it a bit but not enough to be completely out of it. Like last night, I don't remember a single thing that happened after leaving Amy's, and even before that is a little hazy."

They walked a few more minutes in silence until Beth smiled and stopped at a pair of headstones. The first one said Allan Thacker and had dates about 58 years apart. The other one said, "Joanne Thacker," Beth recited. "Died April 12th, 1998. Easter Sunday. She was 75 at the time. We didn't celebrated her 75th for some reason, but I remember her 70th. Jo had a camera and I was trying to avoid getting my picture taken. My grandma had gotten a few gag gifts as well a some practical ones. It was in the summer, so we were outside for most of the day. My uncles manned the grills while us kids playing with Grandma's sister's dog. It was a good day."

Beth handed Carlton the umbrella as she kneeled on the ground, not caring that she was going to get all muddy. "Hey Grandma. I'm sorry that I don't visit but it always scared me when I was younger. It didn't help that I blamed myself for several years. But I'm doing much better now. I'm actually moving out to California, so I'll have a legit reason not to visit you." She took a deep breath as she started tracing the headstone. "I'm performing in pubs now, well, singing while playing guitar and piano. I still get nervous every time I go up, but it has gotten easier."

She smiled up at Carlton and took his hand. "This is Carlton and he's a detective from California. He helped me out of a sticky situation and now he's helping me move. This is suppose to be his vacation time, but I've been making things difficult." She sniffled as she looked down again, still holding Carlton's hand. "I wish you were here. Things have gotten more tense between my mom and I, and I don't know what to do. You always seemed to know what to do or at least would talk to her. Carlton and Amy are helping a little but it's just not the same. I need some grandmotherly advice."

When she stopped talking, Carlton looked down and saw that her eyes were closed and tears were silently falling. He squeezed her hand and she smiled at him before wiping her cheeks. "We've got to get back so I can continue packing. I'll try to come back before we leave. Bye Grandma, say hi to Grandpa for me."

She touched the headstone one more time before standing up and giving Carlton a hug. Knowing that she needed it, he returned it just as tightly. When they parted, Beth silently handed over the car keys before starting the walk back to the car.


	10. Chapter 10

_**CHAPTER 10**_

While they were entering her house after another quiet car ride, Beth finally said, "I should probably just give you a key. I think you drive my car more than I do."

"Okay, we can get a copy made tomorrow if you want." Carlton said as he hung up their coats.

She shook her head, "Nah, I should have a spare in my room. I'm going to go look for it while I get changed."

"Okay," He watched her go into the living room and up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, Carlton pulled out his phone. He only had a text message from Shawn asking him if he enjoyed all the rain and hoped that they were prepared for the snow. Shaking his head, Carlton dialed a number that he had gotten yesterday and waited for the person to pick up.

He only had to wait through 2 rings before a breathless voice answered, "This is Amy."

"Hello Amy, it's Carlton. Is this a bad time?"

Amy laughed, "No, it's fine. Adam is currently running around the living room, trying to get me to chase him, but I can use the break. What's up?"

Checking to make sure that Beth wasn't down yet, Carlton sat at the kitchen island. "Well, I was wondering what you can tell me about your grandmother, specifically how Beth handled her death."

There was silence for a few seconds before she replied solemnly, "How much do you know already?"

"Well, a couple months ago, she told me about the accident and how she had to endure psychiatric sessions. She mentioned that she lost some of her passion for music."

"That's putting it lightly." Amy sighed as Carlton heard movement on the other end of the phone. "Adam, why don't you play with your mini piano. Beth gave that to him for his birthday last November."

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah. Dan almost got him the same thing when he found a rocking horse instead." Carlton heard the pounding of keys as Amy continued, "That was a rough time for Beth. She didn't just lose some passion for music, she lost passion for life. She withdrew from everything and everybody. Now, to people who didn't know her well, like that so-called shrink, they just thought she was going through the normal stages of grief, especially since she was a shy, quiet kid to begin with. But to me and a few of her closest friends, we knew differently. Every night for weeks, she would cry herself to sleep, usually after she thought that I was asleep. She's always been a considerate person and never wanted to burden people. After about 3 weeks of this, Suzie, Wendy and I held an intervention. We told her that she needed to pull herself together and forgive herself, for it was in no way her fault. She broke down some more and we just sat there as she let it all out, sometimes rambling about unrelated topics. Once she calmed down, we made a plan for getting her caught up on schoolwork since she was less than a month from graduating and was in danger of failing. She seemed to be okay after that, not to the level that she was before, but still better. I was worried about her not going to college, but she's not like me. She's not meant to be doing the normal college thing and then get a 9-5 job once she got a degree. She's always been this sensitive soul, a free-spirit. I'm surprised that it took her so long to 'run off' as my mother put it." Amy laughed. "I bet I've told you way more than what you wanted to know, huh?"

"No, it's fine. I mean, I knew about her being a free spirit, but it's interesting to get someone else's opinion about her, especially from someone who has know her all her life."

"Well, not her whole life. I mean, I am 10 months younger than her."

Carlton groaned as he rubbed his face, "Sweet Lady Justice, you two are related!"

"Thanks!" Amy laughed. "Listen, I got to get back to my little terror before he gets into trouble. But did you guys want to have dinner with us tonight?"

"It depends, is your whole family coming?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't make you suffer through that again so soon, Saturday will be interesting enough! No, I was just thinking that Adam, Dan and I can come over. Since Beth is sick, I'll stop somewhere on the way and maybe we can break out a deck of cards or something."

"Okay, but Beth has warned me about playing certain games against you."

"What? That little brat! Oh well, we'll still have fun. Talk it over with Beth and let me know by 5. *CRASH* Gotta go, bye!" Amy hung up quickly before Carlton had a chance to respond.

Shaking his head, Carlton looked towards the stairs. It had been almost 10 minutes and Beth wasn't down yet. He gave her a few more minutes before he went upstairs to investigate. The door to her bedroom was shut, so he knocked. Getting no response, he slowly opened the door.

Beth was curled up on the bed with Murphy against her back and a photo album in front of her. She had already changed and had even gotten out a tin of about 10 keys, which was sitting on her end table. Deciding to just let her sleep, Carlton grabbed the afghan blanket off the chair and placed it over her.

Going into his room, Carlton pulled out his laptop to see if anything interesting had happened in Santa Barbara since he left.

* * *

><p>Carlton was just about to respond to an email from Shawn when Beth sleepily came in and sat next to him on the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder and just watched him type for the next few minutes, sniffling occasionally. Sparing a glance at her, Carlton reprimanded Shawn about wasting department resources and said that when he's on vacation, he would appreciate a break from Shawn's shenanigans.<p>

He was about to click send when Beth reached over and started typing, _'Hey Shawn, I hope you're not getting into too much trouble without me, although I guess you have to find something to occupy yourself with since Gus is also away. I wish you could be out here with us, I know that you would enjoy spending time with Amy. Anyways, could you give Carlton a break until he gets back? I'm giving him enough trouble as it is. Thanks! Lots of Love, Beth.'_ She then preceded to click send before he could edit it.

"Do you mind?" Carlton growled as he tried to take the laptop back.

"Nope, not at all. Is there anything else you wanted to do, or can I turn this off?"

Carlton sighed as he let go. "I assume that you have something else planned then?"

Beth nodded as she set the laptop aside. "Sort of. I wanted to keep working on the basement. I mean, mostly it's deciding what to keep and what to give away. I think that I cleaned out all the junk a couple years ago when we had a really bad snowstorm and I was stuck inside for almost a week. Talk about cabin fever! The city didn't plow my street until the 4th day and my car was in the shop so I had to wait another couple days until one of my siblings were available to pick me up. Anyways, I digress. If we spend about 2-3 hours on it a day, we should get the basement sorted by the end of the week. What do you think?"

"That sounds fine. But Amy wants to know if the 3 of them could come over for dinner tonight. I'm suppose to let her know in the next couple hours."

"Oh, well am I suppose to make something? Because I don't think that we have enough of anything for 5 people, except maybe chicken nuggets."

"She said that they would pick something up on the way."

"Okay. How about I'll call her and we can meet in the basement in about 5 minutes, okay?"

"Sure."

Beth nodded as she got off the bed and headed towards her bedroom.

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later, Carlton groaned as he pushed a box towards the give away stack. "How the hell do you have so much useless crap?"<p>

Beth laughed as she divided the stuff in her box. "I don't know, I think about 5 of the boxes are Christmas presents that I've just been too nice to give away. Wait until we get into the next room! It is filled with music and craft projects, some half finished."

Carlton groaned as he pulled another box towards him. "If you don't watch it, I might have to charge you for my services. I'm suppose to be on vacation, everyone keeps telling me to relax, yet you make me do all this work."

"I know!" Beth huffed before sniffling. "If I could, I would just throw this all in a storage locker and come back to it when I'm feeling up to it! But that would only be postponing the inevitable and racking up a huge bill. I'm going to have enough problems paying for the gas and U-Haul rental for the trip back, let alone hotel rooms and food." Beth gasped as she covered her mouth. "Shoot, I wasn't suppose to tell you that!"

Carlton looked at her quizzically, "Are you having money problems?"

She blushed as she fidgeted with the box, avoiding Carlton's gaze. "Yeah, well the gas was a lot more expensive than I anticipated and a few of the hotels I stayed at on the way here were pretty packed because of spring breaks and only had some of the more expensive rooms available. Evan has me set up to get a paycheck every two weeks, like all his other employees. I'm due to be paid this Friday, but since I'm obviously not there, I can't pick up my check until we get back. I was thinking of asking Amy tonight if I could borrow some money."

"And why didn't you just tell me?"

She sighed, "Because I was embarrassed. It's not something that my family talks about, money problems. I'm not even sure how to bring it up with Amy."

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Carlton coughed and said, "I can cover it."

"No, you don't have to, you shouldn't have to." Beth whined as she finally turned to him. "You do enough, I couldn't ask this of you!"

"You're not, I'm offering."

"But you're on vacation! You shouldn't have to worry about it."

"Yes I'm on vacation, but think of all the money that I'm saving by staying here with you instead of a hotel."

"But you've already paid for the groceries and never let me pay when we go out to eat. And you're letting me stay at your house for free and…"

"Will you stop!" Carlton snapped.

Beth noticeably flinched as she turned away from him, mumbling, "Sorry." Frisco lifted his head up from his position at the door and growled at Carlton.

Carlton took a deep breath before gently placing a hand on Beth's shoulder. He ignored her tensing up and said quietly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I guess these last couple days have been very stressful, but I shouldn't take it out on you."

Beth nodded as she turned towards him but kept her head down. "It's okay, I shouldn't have kept going. I just have this really bad habit of not accepting help from others, especially when it comes to money." She took a deep breath and finally looked him in the eye. "I really do appreciate the offer and guess that I'll have to accept it. But as soon as I can, I am paying you back for half, no exceptions."

When she gave him a stern look, Carlton couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, but only when you can afford it. I don't want you to not pay your health insurance or something because of me."

"Okay. Now that that's settled, I need to go take a shower. Between all the dust down here, being sick and it being a certain time of the month, I feel disgusting."

Carlton made a face as he pushed a box to the side and stood up. "Have you ever heard of the phrase 'too much information' before?"

"Yeah, but making you uncomfortable is fun!"

He offered her a hand up and sighed, "At least I know that you're feeling better."

"Yeah, a bit. Thank you Nurse Carly!" Beth grinned before hurrying out of the room when Carlton glared at her. He then just shook his head and followed her laughter upstairs.


	11. Chapter 11

_**CHAPTER 11**_

Around 6:30, Beth was pacing back and forth in the living room, moving things about and it was quite frankly getting on Carlton's nerves. When she picked up the remote for the 5th time, Carlton gently stopped her by placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Would you relax, it's just your sister."

She smiled at him as she shrugged his hands off. "Not true! It's Amy, Dan and Adam. I'm just trying to make sure that there's nothing that Adam can get into trouble with."

"He'll be fine, just keep an eye on him."

She opened her mouth to respond, only to get interrupted by a knock at the front door. Placing the remote back on the coffee table, Beth took a deep breath before going over and opening the door. The first thing they noticed was that they were missing someone.

"Where's Adam?" Beth asked as she stepped back to let them in.

Amy shrugged, "Oh, he was being a bit cranky, so we left him with Mom and Dad. This way, we don't have to leave early if he gets too difficult. I mean, we might have to, but I trust Mom will have a handle on things, especially after raising all of us."

"True." Beth said as Carlton took their coats. "So what did you bring?"

Amy grinned as Dan held up a couple bags. Beth squealed. "Oh My Gosh! Have I told you lately how much I love you? I haven't had Boston Market in ages and was thinking about making meatloaf this week."

"Well, now you don't have to. I figured that since you weren't feeling well, that you would prefer something close to homemade. Besides, I've been craving apples all week and they have some of the best cinnamon apples around."

When Beth reached forward to take it, Amy stepped in front. "Nope, Dan's got it. We're going into the kitchen to get plates and silverware." Amy took Beth's arm and led her into the kitchen, calling back, "We'll be right out, meet you guys in the dining room."

Carlton nodded as he opened the front hall closet to hang up the coats. Once he was done he turned to Dan and asked, "Do I even want to know what they're talking about right now?"

Dan shrugged as he led them towards the dining room. "Probably not. Although knowing Amy, she's making sure that Beth is feeling alright. She was a bit concerned about Beth after you phoned her earlier. And then when Beth called, Amy tried to push, but Beth said that she didn't have time and actually hung up on her." Dan set the bags on the table and started emptying them.

"And how did Amy handle that?" Carlton asked as he helped.

"Not well. She called her parents right away to see if they could take Adam for the night, saying that our babysitter had cancelled on us and we really needed help tonight. Of course, Pat was more than happy to help, saying that they could take him more often and not have to depend on, and I quote, a 'flaky teenager.' If Amy wasn't so concerned about Beth, she would have changed her mind about leaving Adam with them."

Carlton nodded and after a second of silence asked, "Amy cares about her a lot, doesn't she?"

"Of course, they're siblings. Irish twins, as they call each other. Amy's always been good at making and keeping friends while Beth hasn't. Beth was even Amy's maid of honor. Between the two of them, we didn't even need a wedding planner. The thing about Beth is that she doesn't take to people easily. Sure, she can talk about unimportant things a mile a minute, but if you can get her to talk about something important, like what happened when their grandmother died, then you know she trusts you. It took almost 6 years for Beth to have an actual conversation with me. Then again, I was off at college most of that time and the rest of it stealing Amy away." Dan put the bags aside and clapped Carlton on the shoulder. "And from what Amy has told me, Beth definitely trusts you. Just be warned, if anything happens to Beth, Amy will hunt you down, even if she is pregnant."

"Thanks for the warning," Carlton said as the kitchen door opened and Beth and Amy came in laughing.

Taking one look at Dan, Amy smiled and crossed her arms, "Is Dan threatening you, Carlton?"

"No, not at all. Just giving me friendly advice."

Amy shook her head as she sat down. "Well, whatever he said about me is most likely true. And don't think that just because you're a cop, that'll stop me. I know plenty of cops, eagle scouts and hunters who will gladly take you out camping and leave you somewhere." She smiled sweetly at him as she started serving herself a plate.

Carlton looked at Beth who shrugged and said, "It's true. But don't worry, nothing will ever happen that will cause her to make that call. Right, Amy?"

They both looked at each other stubbornly until Amy sighed and said, "Right. I mean, I guess I have to thank Carlton for taking care of the whole Fred incidence but I reserve the right to at least cause bodily harm."

Beth nodded as she sat down across from Amy. "Okay, but nothing that requires a stay in the hospital. Visit maybe, but nothing overnight."

"I guess I could live with that." Amy said as she grabbed some meatloaf.

Carlton shook his head as he sat next to Beth, Dan across from him. "You do know that I'm right here, don't you?"

"Yes we do," Beth smiled as she passed him a plate. "And I thank you for letting my sister and I plan your potential bodily harm. You're such a good sport!" She tried to ruffle his hair as Carlton batted her hand away.

"You better watch it, or I might have you arrested for conspiring to assaulting an officer."

"Did you just make that up? Besides, we're so far out of your jurisdiction that it isn't even funny." Beth pointed out as she finished filling her plate.

"Shut up and eat your dinner," Carlton growled.

"Yes mother!" Beth sang as she dug in, ignoring Amy and Dan's smiles.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of quiet eating, Beth said, "Hey Amy?"<p>

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember John Daniels?"

Amy thought for a second as she reached for her water before saying, "Didn't he go to our church and was on the soccer team with us in middle school?"

Beth nodded, "Yeah. I kind of ran into him today."

"Really? What does kind of mean?"

Beth blushed as she looked at her plate, mumbling something about the grocery store.

"What?" When Beth didn't repeat herself, Amy turned to Carlton. "What happened?"

Carlton coughed nervously, "Well, we were at the grocery store."

"Okay, so he was shopping or working there?"

"Not exactly." Carlton said before nudging Beth's arm.

She glared at him before sighing and turning to Amy, "I kind of passed out and he was the paramedic who was called to the scene."

"What? And you didn't find it necessary to mention to me about almost going to the hospital? Beth, I thought that we were close, tell each other everything!" Amy said angrily with a hint of hurt.

"I'm sorry, Amy! But it's not something that you just mention casually over the phone!" Beth said before shrugging, "Besides, I got the all clear from John and I've had Carlton watching me like a hawk, and he can be a little bit too overprotective at times."

"Only because you don't take things as seriously as you could, especially when it comes to your health." Carlton inputted before asking, "When was the last time that you went in for a simple check-up, and last January does not count." He added much to Beth's chagrin. When she just shrugged and turned back to her food, Carlton asked Amy, "You know how she is about the important stuff, do you think that I should loosen up a bit?"

Amy shook her head as she grinned, "No, if anything, I think that you need to push her even more."

Beth groaned as she put down her fork. "Can we please change the subject? Dan! You're being awfully quiet today, has anything exciting happened recently to any of your students?"

Amy smiled as Dan blushed before he answered, "Well, do you remember Olivia and Alexia?" When Beth nodded, he continued, "Olivia got accepted into NYU on a music scholarship while Alexia got into Harvard on an academic scholarship."

"That's awesome!" Beth exclaimed before turning to Carlton. "Dan teaches at The Cleveland Institute of Music and Olivia and Alexia are twins who also go to our church. We've known them since they were 7 and have basically watched them grow up. It's a shame that I didn't see them at Church yesterday."

"They have spring break this week so they went on a road trip to check out their future campuses" Amy pitched in. "But they should be back by Sunday."

"So they're not coming Saturday?"

Amy laughed as she shook her head, "I don't know, I sent an invite to them and their parents but as I told you last month, I'm not telling who's coming and who isn't. You'll find out soon enough."

"Fine! But will you at least tell me what time I should expect people? All you've told me is that I should keep the whole day, and possibly weekend, clear. What are you up to?"

Amy grinned as she looked at Dan before getting up and going to her purse. "Well, I meant to give these to you last night, but since you left early, I guess now will have to do." She came back and handed Beth an envelope.

With confusion, Beth quickly opened it and pulled out two debit-like cards and a pamphlet. "Cleveland Plus Pass. What is this?"

Amy sighed as she sat back down. "What is your problem with reading things, hmm? I swear, you get into more trouble from skimming things than anything else. Basically, once you activate it, you can get into 10 different attractions around Cleveland and discounts at a lot of other places listed in the pamphlet. We got you 3 day passes for Friday and Saturday and then either Thursday or Sunday."

"Aw, thanks Amy!" Beth said as she passed Carlton the pamphlet without looking through it. "But you didn't have to do that! The party is more than enough."

"Nonsense! I know how much you enjoyed visiting the museums when we were younger. Besides, they just recently reopened the medieval exhibit."

Beth gasped. "You mean we can go see the suits of armor?"

"Yeah," Amy smiled as she shook her head.

"Sweet!" Beth exclaimed before turning to Carlton. "I was never one for textbooks but you put me in a museum or old building, and I can spend hours looking at stuff."

Amy laughed, "When we were in high school, Beth collected pennies and Canadian coins. Used to drive our parents insane when she would take mom's spare change containers and go through them all. Whatever happened to that?"

"I think I still have that in my room somewhere."

"Good, because I've got a couple jarful of pennies for you to sort through."

"Are you serious?" Beth laughed as Amy nodded. "Bring them over this week and we'll make a day of it!"

"Uh no. I'll drop them off sometime this week but you are on your own for doing that. Maybe get Carlton to help."

"No thank you." Carlton commented.

"Okay, now that that issue is settled, what's next? Card game, board game or movie?" Dan asked as he started cleaning up.

"I don't know, what do you think Carlton?" Beth asked as she collected the plates.

"Oh, um. I think that I saw Scrabble in the hall closet."

Beth groaned as Amy laughed, "You know, I'm liking Carlton more and more."

"Fine, we can play Scrabble only if I can be on a team with Carlton." Beth said as she went to get the game.

"I don't care who's on your team, you'll never beat me." Amy smiled as she passed Dan the last of the food containers.

"Oh, it is so on!" Beth said as she returned with the game.

Carlton just shook his head at the sibling rivalry.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

So, there's the first part! Since I can only upload 15 chs at a time on here, I'm going to post the next set of chapters sometime in the next week. Like I said, this is a WIP and all chapters will be posted on Psychfic first since all I have to do copy and paste there.

Let me know what you think! Reviews and Suggestions are very much appreciated as I finish this story and work on the next one :D


	12. Chapter 12

_**Author's Note:**_** Like I said before, I wrote a short little scene about halfway through this chapter just for Frisco. It was maybe 6 weeks after he died yet I still cried while I wrote it. Luckily, I have a new dog now and he is crazy clingy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 12<strong>_

Saturday morning, Carlton was woken up by the shaking of his shoulders. Moaning, he turned away and buried his face into his pillow. The shaking continued a little rougher and a voice soon joined, "Carlton! Come on! I want to show you something!"

Recognizing Beth's voice and figuring that she wouldn't stop until he at least responded; Carlton turned his head enough to glare at her, glancing at the clock. "What? You had me out until almost 1am and it's barely 5 right now. The sun isn't even up, so why are you?"

Beth smiled as she got off the bed and headed towards the dresser. "I'll explain after you get up, and you don't even have to get changed. Although you might want more layers." She pulled out a sweater and threw it on the bed. "Alright, you've got 5 minutes to get downstairs before I throw Murphy on you."

"Not again!" Carlton moaned as he rolled over and started to get up. "You already threw him on me twice this week, once when I was fast asleep!"

"No! That was totally Salem's fault! If Salem hadn't taken a swipe at Murphy while he was sleeping on the back of the couch, Murphy might not have fallen on you. I just happened to be passing by when it happened."

Carlton sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Are you going to get out of here?"

"Yeah, sure. Met me in the kitchen with your boots on."

"Boots?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, boots. Now hurry up!" Beth shut the door as she left, muttering, "Geez, what does it take for him to just trust me, eh Frisco?"

Shaking his head, Carlton slowly got up and looked for his boots. Grabbing his phone, he quickly made his way downstairs to find Beth waiting for him in the kitchen with his coat. Taking the offered coat, Carlton noticed that she was only wearing jeans, boots and a long sleeved shirt. "You had me bundle up yet this is all that you're wearing?"

Beth just smiled cryptically as she went to the back door.

Getting no real response, he tried again. "So what are we doing?"

She sighed as she opened the door. "You'll see. What's wrong with a little blind faith?"

"I know you too well for that. And all the time you've spent with Spencer hasn't helped your case much." Carlton growled as Beth pulled him outside. The first thing he noticed was the cold wind whipping past them. Pulling his coat closer, he realized that it was lightly snowing. "You woke me up for snow?" Carl asked only to have any further remarks stop when he caught the very peaceful expression on Beth's face.

Closing her eyes, Beth tilted her head up towards the sky. After a few seconds, she sighed, "This is something that I'm gonna miss. Snow gently falling, crisp yet cold mornings…."

"Getting hypothermia after finally getting over a simple cold." Carlton mumbled.

Beth laughed as she turned to him. "Fine, if you'd rather go inside, then be my guest. I, on the other hand, am going to stay out for a little longer."

Carlton was worried about her health but also knew that this was good for her emotionally. "5 minutes, and then I'm dragging your ass inside."

"Ohh, kinky!" Beth smirked.

Carlton growled as he took off his coat and placed it over Beth's shoulders. "Wanna make it 2? Or I could bring you in right now."

"Fine." Beth sighed as she obediently pulled the jacket on correctly before turning back to the sky.

Once inside, Carlton poured himself a glass of water before settling at the window to watch Beth. At the 5 minute mark, he knocked on the window and waved her in when she looked over. Beth smiled as she headed to the door, calling Frisco as she did so.

As she came in shivering, Carlton asked, "Have fun?" He frowned as she came over and put her hands on his cheeks. "What the hell?" He exclaimed as he backed away from her cold hands.

Beth laughed as she took off the coat. "The point wasn't to have fun, although your reaction was highly amusing, but to enjoy the peace and quiet. In case you haven't realized yet, I'm not a conventional person. I needed that, especially with what's happening today. Amy still refuses to tell me how many people are coming or for how long."

"Well, are you good now?"

"Yep, for the time being anyways." She smiled as she kissed his cheek.

"Good. Am I allowed to go back to sleep yet?"

Beth laughed as she relocked the door and turned off the lights. "I guess. Amy is suppose to be here around 10 so that gives you a few more hours. I'm going to get started on cleaning and packing up my room. I have so many clothes in there that it's going to take me at least a whole day just to do that."

"Alright. You know where to find me if you need me, but please don't need me."

"Night Carlton."

* * *

><p>After managing to get about 3 more hours of sleep, Carlton was walking back to his room after taking a shower when he saw Frisco laying near Beth's door. Tossing his stuff onto his bed, Carlton came back into the hallway and knelt down in front of Frisco. The dog immediately wagged his tail and lifted his head up.<p>

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Frisco just wagged his tail faster and nuzzled Carlton's arm. "I wonder how you're coping with all of this, hmm? You don't see Beth for months at a time, and then when she does come back, she's packing up. Don't worry, we won't leave you behind. The cats on the other hand, I wouldn't mind leaving, but you're a good dog. Calm yet very protective. Just like me, huh?"

Carlton rubbed the dog on the head before standing up. Frisco slowly got up too, pausing to stretch. Carlton chuckled when he heard the dog's joints crack. "Getting up there, eh? Don't worry, you've still got a few good years left in ya."

Giving the dog one more pat, Carlton gently knocked on Beth's door. Not getting a response, he knocked again as he opened the door. "Beth?" He was met this time by a soft meow and music quietly playing. Murphy was laying in the only opened spot on an otherwise cluttered bed while Beth was sound asleep on the box-covered floor, some sort of stuffed animal under her head.

Shaking his head, Carlton carefully made his way over and pushed some clothes aside so he could sit on the bed. Knowing that Amy would be there in a little over an hour, and that it would take at least half that time to just get Beth up and moving, Carlton gently leaned over and shook Beth's shoulder. "Beth, time to wake up." She mumbled a little before turning away from him. Sighing, he tried a little harder. "Come on, you know you have to get up."

"Go 'way," Beth muttered as she blindly grabbed a tennis ball and tossed it at him.

Carlton raised an eyebrow when the ball painlessly bounced off his shin. "Was that suppose to hurt?" Getting no response, he turned towards Frisco, who was standing in the doorway. "Care to help?"

When Frisco just cocked his head, Carlton clicked his tongue and said, "Come here Frisco, come on!" The dog quickly came over and, after a quick pat from Carlton, started nudging Beth, eventually licking her face.

"Stop, that's cheating!" Beth giggled as she tried to push him away, only to have Frisco lay down in front of her and continue his licking on her arms. Beth rolled over enough to glare at Carlton, "Now look what you've done! He's not going to stop until I either get up or yell at him, neither of which I'm looking forward to."

"Good, now I know what to do next time," Carlton said smugly as he watched Frisco stretch his neck to reach her.

Beth sighed as she finally sat up, leaving Frisco to give up and lay his head on her leg. "Why can't I just sleep?"

"Well, first of all, your sister will be here in less than an hour and you still need to shower and change. Secondly, it's your own damn fault for waking me up at 5am and then not going back to sleep."

Beth whined as she picked up the stuffed animal, which Carlton now recognized as a Pooh bear, and hugged it in her arms. "Can we just skip the party and take naps instead?"

"All those people are coming just to see you before you leave, do you really want to disappoint them?"

"I'll probably see most of them at church tomorrow anyways." She huffed. "I don't even know why I agreed to this stupid thing in the first place! I hate parties, especially when I'm the center of attention. I just want to finish packing and leave."

Carlton rubbed his face and sighed. He so needed coffee for this conversation. "Look, it's just one day. You get through this, and then we can leave as soon as everything's packed up, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." Carlton looked around the room before saying, "Are you going to clean up some of this crap?"

Beth laughed as she pushed some boxes out of the way and stood up. "Yeah, a bit. Not like people should be coming in here at all. I mean, we might use it for coats, but once Amy sees this mess, it should change to your room."

"What? I don't want people near my stuff. What about your other room, where all your books and computer stuff are?"

"And where would they put the coats?" Beth asked as she grabbed a trash bag and started throwing the clothes that were on her bed in it. "On the keyboard piano or the boxes of packed books?"

"I don't know."

"Fine. If you're so concerned, then help me pick stuff up and throw it in the closet." Beth grabbed some boxes and carelessly pushed them under her bed, ignoring the hiss that preceded the orange cat from coming out from under the bed and leaving the room. "Bye Salem," she called as she grabbed more stuff.

Carlton started putting the things that were on the bed into a box. When he got to the pooh bear, Beth snatched it out of his hands and placed it on top of her pillows. When Carlton raised his eyebrows, Beth just shrugged and continued to move stuff out of the way.

Once her room look somewhat respectable, Beth shooed him out with a, "You make breakfast while I shower and change."

Having learned not to fight her when she gets into one of her overly controlling moods, Carlton called Frisco after him, "Come on dog, I bet you need to go outside by now." Frisco barked as he hurried out of Beth's room and down the stairs.

* * *

><p>They had just finished eating when there was a knock at the back door. Beth hurried to the door and excitedly exclaimed, "Hey Amy! Oh, and young Adam. How are you doing this fine morning?" Carlton heard Adam giggle before Beth continued, "I thought that Dan's folks were going to take him today?"<p>

Amy sighed as she stepped into the kitchen. "They were until Dan's dad hurt his back this morning and had to go to the hospital. He's fine, but they wanted to keep him for observations." Amy passed Adam off to Beth as she took off her coat. "Hello Carlton."

"Morning Amy." Carlton replied as he finished loading the dishwasher.

"So, you're going to watch Adam while also setting up for a party? Good luck with that."

Amy smiled sweetly as she touched Beth's arm and Carlton had a feeling about what she was going to say. "No, I'm going to have enough on my plate keeping Frisco and Murphy out of my way. You guys are taking him."

"What? No! I wanted to go ice skating!" Beth whined as she tried to hand Adam back off to Amy.

"You can go ice skating tomorrow." Amy stubbornly crossed her arms. "Besides, you said just last night that you guys hadn't been to the natural history museum or the science center yet, and I know that Adam will enjoy them."

"Fine!" Beth sighed as she put a squirming toddler down, who immediately went after Frisco. "Come on Carlton, I guess we have to move a car seat."

"Thanks sis! I owe you one!"

"Of course you do."


	13. Chapter 13

_**CHAPTER 13**_

Since Adam had fallen asleep while they were in the Natural History Museum, Beth decided to just drive around, pointing out certain places that meant something to her. They went by all 5 of the houses that her family had lived in growing up, her grandma's house, a few schools and then just places she enjoyed. They had just stopped at a Starbucks so Carlton could run in for some warm drinks, when Beth's phone went off.

Smiling, Beth quickly answered as she parked, "Hey sis! We're maybe 20 minutes away. Okay. He's actually asleep right now but he was very well behaved. Yeah, see ya soon. Bye." Beth turned to Carlton. "Amy said that they're ready for us, so if you still want that coffee, you should hurry up."

"Of course I'll need coffee," He mumbled as he got out and crossed the parking lot.

As they neared Beth's house, they noticed that not a lot of cars were parked on the street. Seeing Bobby waving them into her driveway, Beth quickly pulled in.

Bobby rounded the car and opened the door for Beth, "Good Afternoon, Madame. I hope that you had a lovely time."

Beth laughed as she turned off the car and got out. "It was interesting to say the least. So, are you the valet or something?"

"Yep. Me, Dan and Eric all got assigned to parking cars in the empty lot a block over. I was also told to take care of getting Adam out so that you two can go straight inside."

"Alright, if you say so." Beth stepped back as Bobby opened the back door and woke up Adam before fiddling with the car seat. "Do you need any help?"

"No, you guys go right ahead. I'll be in momentarily. Ah-ha! Ow" Bobby finally got the car seat to unbuckle, only to hit his head on the door frame, causing Adam to laugh.

"Are you okay?" Beth smiled as she tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, as long as Adam is happy." Bobby rubbed his head before picking up Adam. "Right buddy?"

"Come on Carlton," Beth laughed as she headed for the front door while Bobby and Adam went to the back.

Taking Carlton's hand somewhat tightly, Beth took a deep breath as she opened the door and stepped in.

Right away, they were met by about 30 people gathered in Beth's living room. The song "Bye, Bye Birdie" was playing and a giant banner, hung near the stairs, said, "So long and thanks for all the fish!" with fish crossed out and music written above it.

Laughing, Beth let go of Carlton and went to hug both Susie and Amy. "Oh my gosh, you guys are so silly!"

"You just realized that?" Amy teased as she returned the hug.

"No, I've known it for years. I'm just making sure that you two know since I won't be around to remind you." Stepping back, Beth took a look around the room and addressed the crowd "Wow. I didn't expect so many people to show up. But, um, thank you all for coming. As most of you know, I'm moving to California next week. I already have a job lined up and have made lots of new friends."

Beth gave Carlton a big smile before continuing. "Cleveland will always be my home and I will try to visit a few times a year, but you all know how I am about airplanes." She smiled as a few people laughed. "But if any of you are in the Santa Barbara/Los Angeles area, feel free to call me. I'll try and find some way to hang out. So, that's about it. Have fun socializing and be sure to enjoy some of this delicious food that my siblings have so graciously provided."

"Yay!" Adam exclaimed, causing the whole room to laugh.

As someone put the music back on, everyone broke off into groups, including several people surrounding Beth. After placing his coat in the closet, Carlton leaned against the wall and just watched as Beth talked and laughed with people.

It was a couple minutes before Amy broke away from the group and joined Carlton. "So, how are you enjoying the snow?"

Carlton shook his head, "I've experienced snow plenty of times before. Just because it never snows in Santa Barbara, doesn't mean that I haven't been places that have it. I use to ice skate in the mountains when I was a kid."

"Okay, I'll give you that. But we're suppose to be getting a lot of snow in the next couple of days, possible blizzard conditions."

Carlton turned and glared at Amy, "Are you trying to scare me off or something?"

Amy grinned back and said, "Oh no, I wouldn't dream of that. Beth would probably kill me if I did. I'm just giving you a heads up."

Carlton shook his head as he turned back to the rest of the room. "You two are way too much alike. It's actually a bit scary."

Amy laughed as she looked around the room, her eyes finally landing on Dan and Adam. "So, how was it today? Did Adam drive you crazy or anything?"

"Not really. He kept trying to run off and we'd have to chase him, but other then that, he was well behaved."

"Good, I'm glad. You know, Adam really seems to like you. Have you ever thought about having kids?"

Carlton laughed nervously as he made sure that no one else was listening. "Wow, that's a, um, very complicated and personal subject."

"I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about it, then I totally understand. It's not always easy talking to someone that you barely know about something so personal. Or even someone that you've known forever. Beth didn't feel comfortable confiding in me until she was about 23. Even recently, she still won't tell me everything." Amy said sadly as she looked down and rubbed her stomach.

Carlton sighed before saying, "Look, there was a lot going on. And, I guess, she just didn't want to burden you since she knew that you had Adam to worry about. I think that at first, she only trusted me because of the badge."

"Yeah. Beth has a habit of only seeing the good in people. That might have been one of the reasons that she never told me, so she wouldn't have to admit that she was wrong."

Carlton nodded as he looked over at Beth, who was laughing with her friends. They stood in silence for a while until Adam came running over, saying, "Mama, mama, mama!"

Smiling, Amy reached down and picked Adam up. "You always have such great timing, don't ya buddy?" Adam giggled as he clung to her.

Dan came over, smiling, "Sorry about that, but you know how it is when he gets restless."

"That's alright," Amy leaned over and gave Dan a kiss. "He's probably hungry right now." Turning to Carlton, she said, "Feel free to meet new people. Most of them are very friendly."

"Thanks for the advice." Taking a look around, Carlton asked, "Where are the pets?"

"Oh, they're in your room. But you can probably let Frisco out, if you want."

"Okay." Once they were gone, Carlton headed upstairs.

* * *

><p>After watching Frisco run around in the snow and then letting him back in, Carlton went into the dining room, where the food and beverages were. Grabbing a cup of coffee, he sat down in the kitchen and started petting Frisco.<p>

After a few quiet minutes, he heard laughter as Beth and a couple people came into the room. "Oh, there you guys are!" Beth said as she bent down to pet Frisco. "And how's my buddy doing?"

"Frisco's been very well behaved," Carlton commented.

"I was actually talking about you, but it's good to know that Frisco has been good." Beth grinned widely as Carlton just glared back.

"That wasn't very nice," One of Beth's friends said.

"I know, Dianne. But since Shawn isn't here to tense Carlton, somebody has to do it," Beth said innocently as she went over and ruffled Carlton's hair. "And he's being such a good sport, too."

Carlton swatted her hand away and growled, "Don't make me get my gun!"

Beth stuck out her tongue before turning back to her two friends. "Speaking of guns and officers, this is Jake Gordon and his wife Dianne. Jake is a chief deputy and Dianne is an architect. Guys, this is Carlton Lassiter, he's head detective in Santa Barbara."

They politely shook hands before Beth started talking again. "Carlton, I figured that you and Jake would have a few things in common, mostly comparing types of guns. Anyways, I'll catch you guys later. Come on Dianne, Frisco. Let's see who else is here."

Once they were gone, Carlton asked, "So, chief deputy. Second in command, right?"

"Yes sir."

"That's mighty impressive for one so young."

Jake laughed as he grabbed a can of soda. "Well, it's a fairly small county and I have been with the department for 8 years now. When the opportunity came around last year, I had to at least try and I guess I got lucky."

"Luck barely has anything to do with it. You must have a good record and a good campaign."

"Like I said, fairly small towns, so not a lot of activity, and I also had Amy and Beth supporting me."

Carlton nodded as he sat back down. Waiting until Jake also took a seat, he asked, "So, how long have you known Beth?"

Jake laughed, "It seems like forever. We met sometime in middle school, were on the soccer team together, but that was about it. I was more friends with Amy than Beth, even though Beth and I were in the same year. It wasn't until 10th grade that we started hanging out in groups, mainly because of Amy. We became good friends our last year of high school and afterwards. Once I joined the police force and moved away, I didn't get to see them so often. That's when we started having air soft regularly once a month."

"Oh, so that's why Beth is so good at it."

"Well, when I was growing up, my brothers and I would play air soft in the woods near my house and invite our friends over. Amy and Bobby came over all the time but Beth refused to go. Once I moved away, we finally convinced her to at least hang out with us, even if she didn't want to play. Now, Beth isn't one for sitting out on the sidelines. So during the third time, she decided to play. She's really good at the hiding part and not getting hit, just not so much on the hitting people part."

"I know what you mean. The few times that we've played paintball, she would be hesitant to shot people. But once she got into it, she's actually a good shot."

"Really? I might have to convince her to play with us whenever she's in town."

"Just be careful. I've taken her to the gun range a few times as well and her aim and confidence has definitely improved."

"Ah, it'll be nice to have some new competition since my best opponents aren't here anymore. My brother is currently in the army, so I hardly get to see him, let alone play against him. Kevin won't come anymore since his brother Fred was locked up." Jake sighed as he stared at his can. "I wish Fred hadn't gotten away with it in June."

Carlton stared at Jake before whispering, "You know what happened in June?"

Jake shrugged, "Yeah, well Beth had called me to ask for my advice and I told her to press charges. Then when Kevin told me that his brother wouldn't be around for a while, I got curious, did some investigating."

"You better not have broken any laws."

"No, I first asked Bobby what he knew. Bobby can be very talkative and told me how Beth was in California and Fred had gone there to try and win her back. I knew right away that something was wrong, so I ask Amy who told me that Beth was fine, everything was taken care of." Jake looked up at Carlton and studied him for a bit. "I guess I have you to thank for taking care of my friend."

"She's my friend, too you know."

Jake laughed, "Yeah I know. Those March twins have that affect on people, whether they realize it or not."

Carlton raised an eyebrow, "You call them the March twins?"

"Yeah, it was a nickname for them in high school since they would usually always hangout together. Beth even convinced Amy to join their church choir since they were in need of altos. But once Beth graduated from high school, Amy dropped out."

"Beth mentioned once that Amy sings."

"Only for fun, like karaoke or in the car."

Amy walked in at that point and stared at the two of them. "Just because I don't have the guts to get up in front of a crowd like Beth, doesn't mean that I'm not a good singer. Now you two better stick to a subject that you know, like guns." She then smiled brightly before grabbing a soda can and leaving.

Jake laughed as Carlton asked, "How does she do that?"

"Ears like a hawk, that one. So, what type of gun do you own?"

Carlton shook his head before answering, "You really expect me to be head detective and only own one gun?"

"Sorry, I should know better than that. I have 4 guns myself, all different."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's Note:<em>In case you didn't catch it, there's a little nod to _Muppet Treasure Island_, probably my favorite Muppet movie ever, only in competition with _Muppet Christmas Carol._**


	14. Chapter 14

_**CHAPTER 14**_

After a couple of hours, half the people had left so Carlton started to look for Beth since he hadn't seen her in awhile. He was about to check upstairs when he heard, "Excuse me, Detective. But can we talk for a few minutes."

Turning around, Carlton found Beth's mother looking at him expectantly. "Yes, of course."

"Good. Let's go upstairs, it'll be quieter."

Nodding, Carlton followed Pat to Beth's room. They stood in silence for a few minutes as Pat looked around the room. She picked up the pooh bear and smiled. "I gave this to her on her 3rd birthday. We were expecting Robert in a few months and I felt that Elizabeth needed something that was entirely hers since she usually had hand-me-downs or shared with Amelia. She took it everywhere with her for the first few years, even to kindergarten. We drew the line at 1st grade and she put up such a fight." Pat laughed as she turned to Carlton. "The quiet ones always seem to have the worst tantrums, like they are saving their energy for just those moments. We let her have it for the first day, but that was it. He stayed in her room after that, never going anywhere. Except after the accident. A lot of things changed that Spring."

"Amy told me that it affected Beth really hard," Carlton whispered from his post at the door.

"Yeah. I think that Elizabeth was beginning to trust my mom more than me. She freaked out that first night in the hospital, so they let Harry and I stay. But they told us the next night that it would be better if she was alone. So I immediately went home and brought pooh for her. At first, she was against having a stuffed animal in her room, so I left it on the end table. When I came in the next morning, she was fast asleep and cuddling with the bear."

Pat sighed as she put the bear back. "Look, for some reason, Elizabeth and I don't get along. I don't know when we started to drift, sometime when she was in high school. She hardly said a word after the accident, it was almost like a ghost living in the house. Once she moved out, Amelia was the only one she really talked to. For a few years, I only saw her on holidays. It wasn't until she started dating Fredrick that we saw her more often. She still didn't talk to me much, but at least I knew she was fine."

Pat looked at Carlton. "Then something changed last spring, and Elizabeth started becoming more distanced until she finally left in June. When she came back for Thanksgiving and Adam's birthday, I could tell that something wasn't right, especially when Fredrick wasn't invited to dinner and she didn't put out any alcohol. And then when she actually called me in late January to tell me she was moving, I could hear something in her voice. She wasn't my little girl anymore, something had happened to make her grow up pretty fast. Now you tell me the truth detective, what happened in January?"

Carlton stood a little taller and shook his head. "Ma'am with all due respect, if something did happen, as an officer of the law, I can't tell you anything."

"Don't give me that crap! I'm not stupid, I know something happened with Fredrick. It is not a coincidence that Fredrick gets arrested and sent to jail in the same city that Elizabeth just happens to be in. I can put 2 and 2 together, and what I get isn't pretty."

Carlton sighed as he said, "Ma'am, I'm not going to lie to you. Yes something happened but it's between Beth and Fred. Beth has already forgiven him and put it behind her. She doesn't need to relive it anymore."

Pat nodded as she looked back at the bear on the bed. "How is she in Santa Barbara?"

"As she already told you, she has a job, made new friends, gets to perform and seems happy overall."

"But is she safe?"

Carlton scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Nobody is completely safe. But she does have half the police department looking out for her and is currently staying with a cop. You also have to remember that she is a strong, brave, independent and intelligent young lady who can look out for herself. And I'll shot anyone who tries to hurt her so fast that they'll be released from the hospital before they even know what happened."

Pat smiled as she patted him on the arm. "I'll hold you to it detective. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a grandson who should be getting up from his nap soon. Don't want to keep Amelia up too late."

Carlton just nodded as he stepped aside to let Pat out. Once the door was shut, he leaned against the door and mumbled, "I hate talking to concerned parents."

* * *

><p>After a few minutes, Carlton left the room and continued his search for Beth. He had just spotted her outside with Amy when Jill came up to him.<p>

She smiled as she said, "I just want you to know that I think that you are a lovely young man for coming all the way out here with Beth and that she's very lucky to have found you."

Carlton blushed as he said, "Oh no, we're not together."

"I know, dear, but I can tell that you two were meant to be very good friends. You guys complement each other very nicely. Great friends are hard to find and even harder to keep, don't forget that."

"I won't ma'am."

"Good. Now, I'm curious as to when you are leaving."

"Oh, um the plan is Tuesday night, Wednesday at the latest."

"I hope I can convince you two over for dinner tomorrow."

"I'd have to check with Beth, make sure there aren't any other plans."

"Okay. I won't hold you up any longer. Just tell Beth to let me know before Ron and I leave in the next hour."

"Yes ma'am."

Jill smiled as she left him alone. Grabbing his coat, Carlton went outside and was immediately met by Frisco. Giving the dog a quick pat, Carlton made his way over to Beth and Amy near the garage. Amy was on the porch swing while Beth was laying in the snow.

"Hey Carly!" Beth called as Carlton stopped right in front of them

Carlton growled, "How many times to I have to tell you to stop calling me that?"

"And miss your reaction? I don't know, maybe close to a billion."

Shaking his head at her smile, he asked, "Are you trying to get sick again?"

Beth laughed as she looked up at him. "Hey! I'm wearing a coat this time! Besides, snow is a good insulator. I'm actually a bit warm."

"Amy, help me out."

Amy smiled, "Why? It's not that bad out here since there isn't much of a wind chill."

"Are you worried about little old me?" Beth asked sweetly.

Carlton crossed his arms. "Only because you seem to get in trouble whenever my back is turned, and then I always have to bail you out."

"Okay, I'll give you that." Beth sighed before perking up a bit. "So! Have you been socializing like a good little boy?"

Ignoring the jib, Carlton nodded before saying quickly, "Yes. I've talked to your siblings, Mark, Gina, your mother, your aunt …."

"Wait, did you just say our mother?" Amy asked as Beth looked a bit pale.

Fidgeting a little, Carlton said, "Yeah, well she kind of cornered me and wanted to talk privately."

"Oh no, that can't be good!" Beth groaned as she covered her eyes. "Please tell me that you didn't talk about Fred!"

"Well…."

"Dammit!" Beth hit the ground angrily before glaring at Carlton. "You had no right! Now she's going to be all super protective of me like she was after the accident! Thanks a lot, Carlton. You just ruined my life!"

"Now wait just a damn minute! I didn't tell her anything about Fred!"

Beth looked at him suspiciously, "You didn't?"

Sighing, Carlton knelt down next to her. "She knew that something was wrong, known it for over a year and kind of figured it out since the two of you were in the same city when he was arrested. I told her that legally I can't share anything, not that I would without your permission. I then explained that you can take care of yourself and have more than enough police officers and detectives watching out for you."

"Really?" Beth asked softly.

"Yeah. Do you really not trust me enough to have your back?"

"Okay, I'll try and remember that next time." Beth looked over at Amy who was smirking. "What?"

Amy shrugged, "I was just wondering how mom reacted to Carlton's tough cop act. Not many people can intimidate her. Remember when Cory showed up to take Meg away when she was just 18?"

"Between mom and dad's reactions, I'm surprised that they managed to escape. And then we didn't see them again for about 3 years when they announced they were finally getting married."

"Yeah," Amy added as they both started laughing.

Carlton just looked on with amusement for a few minutes. Once they finally calmed down, he said, "Beth, your aunt invited us to dinner tomorrow night and I told her that I'd have to check with you first."

"Oh, that sounds fine." Beth turned to Amy and asked, "Do you mind if we go to Aunt Jill's? We can have dinner Monday night if you want."

Amy shrugged, "I guess. As long as I get to see you before you leave."

"Deal."

Standing up, Carlton said, "She told me that you should find her before she leaves in the next hour."

"Okay, I guess I'll go in now. Can you help me up?" Beth looked at him innocently and held out a hand. "My legs seem to have fallen asleep."

"Probably got too cold," Carlton mumbled as he reached down and started to pull her up, only to get yanked down into the snow next to Beth. Wiping the snow off his face, Carlton sat up and glared at Beth, who was giggling. "What the hell did I do to you?"

Beth just shrugged as she got up quickly. "Nothing, I just thought that you needed a cool down. See ya!" With that, she ran into the house, laughing the whole way.

"I'm glad that she can relax around you." Amy said as Carlton stood up and knocked off as much snow as he could.

"Yeah, sometimes I wish that she would grow up a bit."

"Why? It's good to let loose every once in a while. You can't be serious all the time."

"You also can't be silly all the time either."

"True." Amy stood up and started walking back to the house. "But I think that Beth balances it out really well with everything she has to deal with."

Thinking about everything that happened in January and since then, Carlton nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I usually am." Amy smiled as they stopped outside of the door. They watched Beth talking enthusiastically with Jill and Ron.

"As much as I appreciate meeting all these people," Carlton said tiredly, making Amy smile. "But how much longer?"

"I told people until 6, so about an hour and a half? But I can start pressuring people around 5:30, how's that?"

"That would be greatly appreciated," Carlton smiled as they went inside.


	15. Chapter 15

_**CHAPTER 15**_

A few hours later found Beth, Carlton and Frisco on the couch, staring at the plethora of good luck cards covering the coffee table. After a few minutes of silence, Beth spoke up, "So, make something, leftovers or delivery?"

"Depends, how long does delivery take?"

"I don't know, close to an hour."

"Leftovers?"

"Sure." Beth continued to just sit on the couch until Carlton nudged her arm. Sighing, she got up and went into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>After dinner, they put in a movie. Halfway through it, Beth was practically asleep on Carlton's shoulder. But every time her head made contact, she would jerk back up and try to watch the movie, only for it to happen again a few minutes later. After about the sixth time, Carlton grabbed the remote and turned the television off.<p>

"Hey!" Beth mumbled. "I was watching that."

Carlton shook his head as he got up. "Actually, I think you missed most of the movie. It's time for bed."

Beth groaned as she laid down across the couch. "I don't wanna get up."

"I'm not going to carry you, if that's what you're thinking."

"Kay," Beth mumbled as she got in a more comfortable position. "Night Carly."

Sighing, Carlton grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and placed it over her before turning off the lights and going up to bed.

* * *

><p>The smell of bacon and coffee woke Carlton up the next morning. Looking at the clock, he groaned, "5:15? She's trying to kill me!"<p>

Laughter met his ears as Beth came in. "No, I'm not. Besides, I can think of at least 10 different ways to do so that would be a lot more enjoyable to me."

"Not helping," he growled as he sat up. Looking at the tray she was carrying, he asked, "Made enough food?"

Beth shrugged as she sat down on the bed next to him. "Probably, but we need to eat as much of the refrigerated stuff as we can before leaving."

"Do we really need to do it at 5 in the morning?" Carlton asked as he reached for the coffee cup.

"Yep," She simply replied.

He looked at her suspiciously as he took a sip. "And why would that be?"

"You'll see! Now, let's just enjoy our breakfast." Beth smiled widely as she passed him a plate and started filling her own.

* * *

><p>Once most of the food was eaten, Beth glanced at the clock before getting up and collecting their dishes. "You need to hurry up and get dressed, don't forget to wear layers."<p>

Carlton crossed his arms as he stared at her. "Not until you tell me what we're doing."

"Come on Carly! Why can't you just trust me?"

"Because I know you too well. Tell me right now or I'm going back to sleep."

They had a staring contest for about a minute before Beth rolled her eyes and huffed, "Fine! I need help shoveling the driveway before the street snowplow comes in the next hour and makes the job harder."

"Shoveling snow? You don't have a snow blower or something?"

"I do, but it's out of gas. I forgot to get some Friday while we were out."

"Of course you forgot," Carlton mumbled as he rubbed his face.

"Please Carlton! The snow is almost a foot deep already so it'll take over 2 hours for me to do by myself!" Beth whined as she sat on the bed and grabbed his hand.

Carlton groaned as he started to get out of bed. "Fine, but you so owe me for this."

"Thanks! Just add it to my bill," Beth said as she took the tray and left.

* * *

><p>They managed to get most of the driveway shoveled in an hour before Carlton complained, "Why would anyone want to live in an area where you have to shovel this much snow several times a year?"<p>

Beth laughed as she tossed more snow out of the way. "Because it gives you plenty of time to think and relax. Plus, it's so pretty!"

"Pretty my ass," Carlton grumbled as he continued shoveling with his back to Beth. After a few seconds of silence, Carlton felt the cold impact of snow on his neck. Turning slowly, he glared at Beth, who was smirking. "What the hell was that?"

Beth shrugged as she pulled another snowball from behind her back and started playing with. "I don't know, detective. What do you think that was?"

"I think that it was a very immature thing to do." Carlton growled as he crossed his arms.

"Really?" She asked as she dropped the snowball and walked up to him. Carlton warily watched as she slowly reached up and started rubbing his chest.

Swallowing, Carlton said, "Yes. What, what are you doing?"

Ignoring his question, Beth stretched up and whispered in his ear, "Well, what do you think of this?"

Carlton barely had time to frown before she pushed him backwards into the snow. Shivering, he tried to get up, only to have Beth pile a shovelful of snow on him. As she stood there giggling, Carlton reached up and pulled her down next to him.

"Ah! So not fair!" Beth protested as she tried to get up, only for Carlton to hold her down.

"I think that it's plenty fair." Carlton growled as he grabbed a handful of snow and sprinkled it over Beth's head.

She started laughing again as she stopped struggling, "You just got to let loose more."

He glared at her and said, "I let loose plenty, just because I don't act like a 5 year old like you and Spencer."

"Honestly, Carly! We are much more mature than that! We act like 12 year olds."

Carlton shook his head as he started to get up, only to get pulled back down again. "Will you quite it! I'm cold and am getting wet! I'm going inside."

"But Carlton! This is so much…" Beth paused as she frowned, taking a look down the street. Carlton was about to ask what was wrong when Beth squeaked and said, "Oh no! The snowplow!"

Indeed, Carlton saw the snowplow coming and could see the snow being pushed several feet into the yards. It didn't take a psychic to figure out that if they didn't move soon, they would get buried. Noticing that Beth was having trouble getting good leverage on the ground with all her laughing, Carlton grabbed her arm and rolled them away from the street. He felt snow pelt his back as the snowplow went by. Releasing a breath, he noticed that Beth had started laughing ever harder from under him. Shaking his head, Carlton couldn't help the few chuckles that escaped him.

"Hey, um. Hey Carlton?" Beth asked a little breathlessly.

"Yeah?"

"Can, can you please get off me?" Carlton frowned as Beth's breathing started to increase and she closed her eyes. "Quickly, please!"

Noting the beginnings of a panic attack, Carlton quickly stood up and took a few steps back. Beth immediately sat up and brought her knees to her chest as she tried to take deep breaths.

"I'm sorry Beth. I, I wasn't thinking." Carlton said after a few seconds as he was torn between reaching a hand out and giving her more space.

Beth shook her head as she stood up quickly and grabbed a shovel. "No, it was, it was my fault. I sh-shouldn't have freaked out." She started at the fresh snow on the driveway with a vengeance.

Noticing her shaking arms and sweat on her forehead, Carlton reached a hand out to her forehead, only for Beth to shy away from him, but not before he felt how cold she was. "Maybe you should go inside and warm up."

She shook her head anxiously, "No, I'm okay. You can go in though if you want."

"Why don't you let me finish?" Carlton asked as he tried to take the shovel from her.

"I've got it!" Beth snapped as she tried to snatch the shovel away. Only Carlton had too strong of a grip and she ended up on the ground.

"Beth, are you okay?" Carlton knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. That seemed to have undone Beth and she broke down sobbing. He gently took her arms and pulled her into a hug. The only acknowledgment she gave was to bury her head into his chest.

After a few minutes, Carlton guided her up and led her inside. Beth didn't protest at all, silently sitting on the couch when they got into the living room. Taking off her boots and coat, Carlton placed a blanket around her as Frisco laid down next to her, his head on her lap.

Quickly making her a cup of tea, Carlton came back to find Beth silently crying. Sitting on the coffee table, he handed her the tea. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Beth scoffed as she cradled the mug between her shaking hands without taking a sip. "Not really. There isn't anything new to talk about, except my frustration over not getting over it."

"A traumatic experience can affect a person for years after the incident." He gently brushed a few tears away.

Beth snorted as she petted Frisco, "Yeah, that's what they keep telling me."

Not quite sure what else to say, Carlton looked at his watch. "What time are we suppose to leave?"

Beth shrugged, "I don't know. By 8:15 I guess."

"Well, it's almost 7 now, so why don't you go take a shower first while I put the shovels away."

"No, I need to finish shoveling." Beth put the mug down and started to get up, only for Carlton to push her back down.

"No you don't. We got most of the snow. Driving over a few inches of snow isn't going to kill us."

Beth laughed as she got up quickly before Carlton could stop her. "No, but it'll be harder to shovel later when we have more snow."

Sighing, Carlton followed her as she grabbed dry boots and coat. "Fine, but only for a little bit."

Beth kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Carlton."

"But don't come crying to me if you get sick again. You can drive yourself back to Santa Barbara alone while I take a plane." Carlton growled. Beth laughed as they went back outside.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Carlton enjoyed watching Beth singing with the service's praise team. She really got into the music and seemed to not care if others were judging her or not. After Sunday school, Beth gave him a tour of the church, showing him all of her favorite places and artwork. They went ice skating on an outdoor rink and Beth fell 3 times, pulling Carlton down the second time and laughing it off each time.


	16. Chapter 16

_**CHAPTER 16**_

Jill and Ron's place was a nice log cabin styled 2 story building with a small stable and plenty of woods surrounding it. Beth made a point of seeing the horse, even though they had to walk through two feet of snow.

Beth waved bye to her aunt and uncle around 8 as they got into the car. "That was nice, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, a fairly calm dinner with just an aunt who seemed to be trying to get us to date." Carlton shook his head as he started the car.

Beth laughed, "Yeah, sorry about that. I had no idea that she would try and get so involved in my love life."

"She's probably just looking out for you." Carlton said awkwardly.

"My family's always been more concerned about having a good time instead of talking about serious stuff, so I was unprepared."

"That explains a lot," Carlton muttered, barely missing a slap to the shoulder. "Hey! Isn't there a rule about not hitting the driver?"

"Possibly, but I don't always follow the rules." Beth smiled widely.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes before Beth said, "I don't feel like going home."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. How about bowling? We haven't gone in a few weeks."

"Mainly because you never break 100."

"Hey!" Beth sounded slightly hurt. "I got into the high 90's last time! That's a big improvement when my average score is 53!"

Carlton chuckled as they stopped at an intersection. "Okay, if you really want to. Which way?"

"Well, we need to get on the highway, so I believe we go straight. Then a right onto a curvy road that I think we follow for about 2 miles. There's a church that if we pass, we've gone too far. And then it's another right for a couple minutes before we come across the interstate."

Carlton looked at her stunned for a second before asking, "What is wrong with learning the street names so it'll be easier to direct people?"

Beth sighed as she reached into the back seat and grabbed the map. "Because I'm bad at remembering names. Here, just start heading straight and I'll find it on the map."

"You at least know what city we're in, right?"

"Yes. Well maybe. I know what city my aunt lives in and what street we're on, but we might have crossed into a different city or something by now, I don't know."

"Wouldn't it just be easier for you to drive since you obviously know where we're going?"

"But then I can't tease you as much if I'm driving!" She pouted before tapping the map. "There, I was right."

They came across another stop sign and Carlton leaned over to see where Beth was pointing, including the path that they should take. Shaking his head, he turned the car onto the next street. "Now was that so hard?"

"Yes!" Beth sighed dramatically as she slouched in the seat. "I'm so exhausted, I think that I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me when we get there."

"If you take a nap, then maybe I'll just drive back to your house and we can forget about bowling."

"Fine! I'll stay awake."

"Good. I hope you know that we are not staying for more than 2 hours since you keep waking me up really early, and I need sleep in order to deal with your craziness."

"Okay, first off, I've only woken you up early three time this whole week, and they haven't been that bad." Carlton scoffed. Beth ignored him and continued. "Two, I'm not crazy. A bit eccentric maybe, but not crazy. Next, you should have known what you were getting into before you agreed to this trip. And finally, I hardly ever play more than 2 hours at a time."

Knowing that he couldn't really win an argument involving the first 3, he focused on the last one. "Don't give me that crap. You and O'Hara spent over 4 hours at a bowling alley last month. And by the way, your listing method is inconsistent."

"Dude, I hated English class, so I don't care! Anyways, that time Juliet and I spent at the bowling alley was for one of her nephew's birthday parties, so we spent more time watching and entertaining kids than actually bowling."

"Well then what about that one time you played 5 ½ games?"

"That was still only about 2 hours. The first one was a warm up since we were using the bumpers. For two of them, Shawn and I were just goofing off and wanted to see how quickly we could get through 10 frames. One of them we …LOOK OUT!"

Everything seemed to happen both all at once and really slowly. Carlton jerked the steering wheel in time to avoid hitting a deer but had trouble straightening back out. He could feel the tires sliding on the snow covered roads as he applied the breaks. Beside him, he heard Beth mutter, "Oh no, not again," as he noticed her curl up into a ball. Before he could try and reassure her, the car went off the road and crashed into a tree. He heard a pain filled scream before everything went black.

* * *

><p>"Sir? Sir are you okay?"<p>

An insistent knocking made Carlton's head pound as he woke up. Groaning, he slowly lifted his head and squinted to the left where the knocking seemed to be coming from. He saw a man standing outside of the window before a light was shined in his face. As his headache seemed to get worse, Carlton tried to block the light, only to have his left shoulder flair in pain. "Damn it!" Carlton cursed as he held his arm still with his other hand.

"Sir? The police and ambulance should be arriving shortly. Can you unlock the doors so I can check on you and your friend?"

Still trying to breath through the pain, the only words that made sense to Carlton were 'ambulance' and 'friend.' Carlton quickly looked over to the passenger side of the car, only to pause and shut his eyes tight when he was overwhelmed by dizziness and nausea. Trying again more slowly, Carlton looked over to find Beth clutching her one leg to her chest as she rocked back and forth. It took him a moment to realize that her eyes were closed, tears silently falling down her cheeks, and she was muttering, "no, no, no, not again, this isn't happening, I'm just imaging it. No, no, no, not again…."

Having a bad feeling about what was running through her head, Carlton reached a hand out to her. "Beth? Can you look at me?" She shied away from his touch and seemed to become more agitated. Before he could try again, there was more knocking on the window. Sighing, Carlton turned around slowly to find a police officer and paramedic outside the car.

"Sir? Can you please unlock the door?"

Grimacing, Carlton unlocked the door before turning his attention back to Beth. He watched as a paramedic tried unsuccessfully to get Beth's attention. When one of them touched her arm, Beth protested strongly, yelling, "No! Leave me alone! You have to help my grandma first! She's really bad off, she hasn't even woken up yet."

Carlton cringed at her words as the paramedic tried to reassure her. "Miss, you need to settle down so that we can examine you."

"No! Stay the hell away from me!" She yelled as the paramedic grabbed her arms.

"I need a sedative, quick!" The paramedic said as someone joined him.

Carlton was about to protest when he felt someone touch his own arm and his shoulder flared up in pain again. "Damn it! What the hell is wrong with you?" Carlton snapped at the paramedic at his side.

The paramedic, who barely looked old enough to be out of high school, flinched, "I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't get your attention."

"Then you should have tried harder without the risk of bothering injuries." Carlton snapped back.

She swallowed before saying, "Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down so I can check your injuries."

"Are you even qualified to be out here?"

"Sir, I am more than qualified."

"Then what is this? Your first day or something?"

"First week, sir." She shakily took a breath. "Now if you don't mind, I need to check you over."

Glaring, Carlton nodded, only for his headache to worsen. "Why don't I just tell you what I know so far? I've hurt my shoulder, most likely a dislocation. My chest hurts from the seatbelt doing it's job. I banged my head when the airbag failed to deploy…."

"You hit your head?"

Carlton growled, "Yes. Can't you tell by this nasty bump on my forehead?"

"Sir, please don't make me tell you again. You need to calm down."

"Instead of trying to get me to calm down, you should be asking me questions. I guess I'll have to start them for you. Name: Carlton Lassiter. Date: Sunday, March…something, 2011. I'll get back to that. Location: We were in Chardon headed towards the interstate, so I'm not sure what city right now. I'm visiting from California, so I haven't memorized all the cities. Mother's maiden name…."

"Sir? Are you a doctor?" The paramedic asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm a detective, head detective actually, and I've been to plenty of accident scenes to know the procedure. Now if you would be so kind as to get the person in charge of the scene over here, I would really appreciate it."

Not waiting for a response, Carlton looked back over at Beth in time to see them loading her onto the stretcher. They had already sedated her and her breathing looked normal. He couldn't really make out if she had any injuries in the dark, but he did notice that they immobilized her right leg.

Before they took her out of his sight, he called out, "Wait! I want to go with her."

One of the paramedics looked down through the open door and said, "I'm sorry sir, but it's against procedure to have two injured parties in the same ambulance. She'll be out for a couple hours, so she won't even know if you were there."

"But I would!" Carlton protested.

"I'm sorry sir." The guy gave him a sympathetic smile because standing up and taking Beth away.

Sighing, Carlton turned back towards his door as a police officer and a different paramedic come over. "What seems to be the problem, sir?" The officer asked.

Carlton tried to reach into his pocket and grab his badge but the seatbelt was in the way. Sighing, he said, "I'm a detective from California and I need you to take my weapon before it gets lost. It's in the glove compartment. I would show you my badge, but I can't seem to reach it."

"Okay sir, I'll make sure to make a note in the report. In the meantime, we need to get you to the hospital before you get frostbite or hypothermia. So, are you going to cooperate with the paramedic this time?"

Carlton looked at the new paramedic. He looked to be in his early 30's and seemed to know his stuff. Sighing, Carlton mumbled, "I guess."

"Good. Dennis, he's all yours."

"Thanks Mike." Dennis replied as he knelt down by Carlton. "The first thing that I'm going to do is put a C-collar on you. I know that you have been moving your neck just fine, but this is just a precaution we take with all car accident victims, especially when the airbag fails to deploy."

Carlton half listened as Dennis went through the steps and explained everything. The adrenaline that he had when he woke up was quickly fading and all he wanted to do was sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

_**CHAPTER 17**_

Over the next few hours, Carlton weaved in and out of consciousness as the hospital every so often checked his memory. It wasn't until almost midnight that Carlton felt coherent enough to ring for the nurse.

The nurse came in a little bit too chipper for his taste. "I see someone is doing better already! What can I do for you, Mr. Lassiter?"

Taking a deep breath, Carlton asked, "Can I see the doctor?"

"Why would you want him? I'm perfectly capable of handling things for you."

"Because I would like to check up on my friend and find out who's been notified."

The nurse sighed as she turned for the door. "Very well. I'll go page him."

"Thanks." Carlton mumbled as he closed his eyes. He listened to her leave and, not even 5 minutes later, the door opened and a new person stepped in.

"Good Evening, Mr. Lassiter," The doctor greeted as Carlton opened his eyes.

"Detective Lassiter," Carlton replied as he tried to sit up.

"Very well, detective. Here, why don't I help you out." Carlton waited patiently as the doctor raised the bed. Once done, the doctor grabbed the chart and said, "My name is Doctor James Kirkpatrick and I'll be taking over your case for the evening. Has anyone explained to you what your injuries are?"

Carlton tried to think back through the haze that was the last couple of hours. "A, um a mild concussion and a dislocated shoulder."

"Very good. Your injuries aren't too severe so we should be able to release you tomorrow afternoon. You need to keep your shoulder as still as possible for the next week. You also shouldn't be alone for a couple of days, so we've notified your emergency contact who said that someone should be here in the morning."

Carlton frowned at that. "But my emergency contact is in California, that's way too far for them to come for a simple accident. What about Beth's family? Have you contacted one of them?"

"I'm not sure," James said as he tapped he chart in his hands. "But I think that she listed you as her emergency contact, so I don't believe that anyone has been called."

"Crap," Carlton whispered as he closed his eyes. "Her sister is going to kill me. Can you hand me my phone?"

"Sir, I don't think that you should be making any phone calls."

"I need to call Beth's family, to let them know and the number is in my phone." Carlton tried not to growl at how slow the doctor was being.

"Very well." James walked over and opened the cabinet. Carlton saw his clothes hanging up and his wallet, keys and phone sitting on a shelf. The doctor came back and handled Carlton the phone. "Please use speakerphone so that I can answer any questions."

Carlton nodded as he turned on his phone. Once the main screen came on, he went into his address book but realized that he couldn't read the screen. Sighing, he handed it to the doctor. "Here. Her name is Amy, Amy something."

James took a minute as he scrolled through the names. "Amy Gilbert? 216 area code?"

"Yeah, that sounds right." Carlton reached for the phone but James just pressed send and held it between them. Glaring, Carlton waited as the phone rang. The ringing was making his head hurt, but he knew he had to do it.

After the forth ring, a sleepy voice answered, "Who the hell dares to call a pregnant woman at midnight?"

Carlton couldn't help the smirk as he said, "Hey Amy, it's Carlton."

"Carlton? I'll ask again, why the hell are you calling me so late? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, something happened. There was an accident."

"Oh my god! Are you guys alright?" Amy asked quickly, suddenly sounding more alert.

"Yes, we're fine. At least, I think that we're both fine." Carlton sent a questioning look at the doctor who nodded.

"What do you mean, you think? Where's Beth?"

"I haven't been to see her yet since I'm in a different room, but the doctor has reassured me that she's fine."

"Is the doctor there with you?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm right here," James replied. "Besides a few bumps and bruises, your sister's only main concern is her sprained ankle. I've also recommended a psych consult for the morning."

"Good luck getting her to agree with that." Amy said. "Okay, what hospital are you at?"

James coughed before replying, "Hilcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights. Do you need directions?"

Amy scoffed, "Trust me, I've been to Hilcrest enough times to know where it is. I'll be there in 20 minutes. Do my parents know yet?"

"No," Carlton replied as he leaned back. "I don't have their number and apparently I'm Beth's emergency contact."

"Ouch, that hurts that she doesn't trust me anymore."

"No Amy, I doubt that's the reason…." Carlton started only for Amy to laugh and interrupt him.

"No, it's cool. I get it. She's going to be living in Santa Barbara so she'd rather have someone local. Besides, I think Susie was listed as her emergency contact for the past few years. Anyways, I'll let my parents know in the morning. There's no use in bothering them if it's not serious. I'll take the rap for it since it's my decision, so don't worry. Okay, see ya soon. Bye."

"Bye Amy," Carlton replied as he sat up and reached for the phone.

James crossed his arms as he watched Carlton try and find another number. "And who are you calling now?"

"My emergency contact to try and convince them not to come out here." Carlton found the number he was looking for and dialed, turning the speakerphone off.

The phone was picked up this time on the second ring by a frantic voice, "Oh my god, Carlton! Are you guys alright? Should you even be calling me right now?"

"O'Hara calm down. I'm fine, we're both fine. I should be released tomorrow."

"Okay, good. That's good. That's, that's great!"

"Exactly. And there is no reason for you to come all the way out here. I'm sure that someone in Beth's family could check in on us every once in a while."

"Oh, well, you see. I wasn't planning on coming out since I have so much work to do since you're not here. So, I kind of asked someone else."

Carlton groaned as he felt his headache getting worse. "Please don't tell me that Spencer is coming."

"No, not exactly."

"Not exactly? O'Hara, what is that suppose to mean?"

Juliet sighed, "Shawn can't go because he's in the middle of a case, so I asked Henry if he would and he agreed."

"Oh no, I can't spend a week or so with Henry. Granted, he's better than his son, but we will still butt heads."

"I'm sorry Carlton, but you don't have much choice!" Juliet snapped "The hospital didn't have Beth's family contact information and I don't have any of their numbers! So I did what I could with what I had!"

There was silence on the line for a few seconds before Carlton said, "Thank you Juliet. I'm sorry for being hard on you. I've already called Beth's sister Amy and she's coming over. I guess I'll see Henry in the morning. What time does his flight get in?"

Juliet took a deep breath and replied, "A-around 10. He asked me to reserve him a car, preferably a truck."

The doctor coughed slightly and said, "Detective, I think that you've spent more than enough time on the phone. You need to get some rest."

Glaring at the doctor, Carlton said, "Listen, O'Hara, I've got to go. I'll try to call back tomorrow after they release me."

"Okay, good. Good night Carlton."

"Night." Carlton hung up and regretfully handed his phone to the doctor. "Can I see Beth now?"

James looked over Carlton's stats as he said, "I'd prefer if you get some sleep now. The sedative they gave Beth should have worn off by now, but she probably won't be awake for a few hours anyways."

"I'll sleep easier after seeing for myself that she's okay."

"Alright, but only for a few minutes. I'll let the nurse know and have someone bring you over."

"And doctor? Make sure that Amy is allowed to know what's happening with her sister."

"Alright." James wrote on the chart and left.

Carlton leaned back and sighed. His headache was getting worse and his shoulder hurt, which probably meant that the meds were wearing off. But he figured he could live through the pain until after he saw Beth. He didn't like the state that she was in emotionally before they sedated her, and he wanted to make sure that she was alright.

The same nurse from earlier came in with a wheelchair. "Alright Mr. Lassiter. The doctor said that you can go visit Miss March for about 10 minutes and then you have to come back and wait until after breakfast. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Carlton mumbled as he started to get up.

"Excuse me? But where do you think you're going?" She asked as she put her hands on her hips. "You currently have a concussion which means no walking until the doctor clears you. Now, we have a perfectly good wheelchair for you to use, unless you'd rather stay here?"

Carlton growled but relented as the nurse helped him into the chair.

Beth's room was on the same floor, about 10 rooms over. He didn't understand why they couldn't be in the same room and the nurse replied, "It's against policy to put two people of different genders in the same room, unless they are married."

Rolling his eyes, Carlton decided to just be quiet as they neared the room. The nurse looked in the window before opening the door and wheeling Carlton over to the side of the bed. "Remember, only 10 minutes. If you need me, press the nurses call button." She pulled the button from the bed closer to Carlton before leaving.

But Carlton barely noticed since all of his attention was on Beth. At first glance, he wouldn't even think that anything was wrong, except that her skin was a little paler than usual and there were a few bruises on her arm. He saw that her right leg was elevated and Carlton sent a pray of thanks that things didn't turn out worse.

Taking her hand gently, Carlton gave it a squeeze as he said, "Hey Beth. I'm sorry about what happened. I bet you would love to yell at me for wrecking your car." Carlton smirked before shaking his head, "Just, hurry up and get better, because as much as you hate hospitals, I hate them 10 times worse."

Getting no response, Carlton leaned back in the wheelchair and closed his eyes. His shoulder really was bothering him and he debated whether or not he should call the nurse. They would probably convince him to go back to his room and then give him something that would knock him out.

Before he could decide, a hand touched his uninjured arm, causing him to flinch and bump his hurt shoulder into the wheelchair. "Crap," he whispered as he squeezed his eyes tight and tried to block out the pain.

"I'm sorry, Carlton. I didn't mean to cause you any harm, but you weren't responding to me."

Carlton looked up to see the apologetic face of Amy. "No, it's, it's fine. I'll be fine."

"You look like you could use some pain meds. Why don't I get the nurse for you?"

She was halfway to the door when Carlton called out, "I told you that I would be fine. They are going to get me in a few minutes anyways."

Nodding, Amy came back over and sat in one of the chairs. "I haven't sat at someone's bedside in over a decade, if you don't count Adam, of course. It's just so weird and a bit creepy, staring at someone while they sleep, waiting for them to wake up."

"Yeah, it's never easy."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Amy said, "I forgot to ask, but how are you fairing?"

"I'm alright. A dislocated shoulder and a slight concussion. No big deal."

"A concussion is no big deal? I had a friend in college who got a concussion during a soccer game once and she had trouble for several months afterwards. Failed a few classes because she got so far behind."

"I just have a minor concussion and should be fine in a few days." He looked at her steadily until she nodded.

"Okay. But that probably means that you shouldn't be alone for the next couple of days either." Amy opened her phone and started looking through her contacts. "I'm trying to think if there's anyone who would have the time besides my parents. I mean, I have to work in the mornings but I can be there afternoons and evenings, if you don't mind Adam being around."

"It's okay. Juliet, my partner, she already called someone and they're flying in."

"Oh, okay. But you won't mind if I still stop by, right?"

"No, it'll be good. You can spend some more time with your sister before we leave." Carlton groaned as he realized something. "Crap, I wonder how this is going to affect our plans."

Amy laughed as she patted his knee. "I'm guessing you've had enough of Ohio?"

"Sort of. I just want to get back to work."

The nurse came in at this point and said, "I'm sorry detective, but it's going to be a while before you can go back to work full time. You'll be on desk duty for at least a few weeks. Now, it's time to go back to your room and I'm sure that you would appreciate some pain medicine, am I right?"

Carlton groaned as Amy laughed, "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah. Night."


	18. Chapter 18

_**CHAPTER 18**_

The next morning, Carlton woke up as the sun was just beginning to rise. Coming back to awareness quicker than last night, he slowly sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He was about to stand when one of the nurses came in.

"Now where do you think that you are going, Mr. Lassiter?"

"I was just going to the bathroom and then to see Beth."

The nurse tsked as she came closer, "You know that you have to wait until the doctor says you can leave. Now, I can help you to the bathroom but then you'll have to come back to the bed."

Growling, Carlton relented and let the nurse put a supportive arm around his waist.

By the time he made it back to the bed, he was thankful for the extra support since that little walk jostled his shoulder enough to start hurting. Once he was seated, the nurse said something about pain meds and a doctor, but Carlton wasn't listening as he closed his eyes and tried to breath through the pain.

A few minutes later, as the pain started to subside, Carlton heard the door open. Opening his eyes, he watched as Dr. Kirkpatrick came closer with a small paper cup and his chart.

"I guess I don't even have to ask if you're in pain since it looks pretty evident from your expression that you are. But on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being on the point of passing out from said pain, what would you rate it?" James waited as Carlton thought.

"I don't know, about a 4, maybe 5."

"Good. And what about a few minutes ago while you were coming back from the bathroom?"

"An 8." Carlton sighed, dreading what the doctor might do.

"Okay. I want you to take these, they're not as strong as what you got last night, but they'll still help." James handed over the cup before writing down on the chart. "Now, how are your other symptoms? Are you still experiencing nausea, dizziness, light sensitivity, blurred vision, headache?"

"Um, a slight headache and dizziness."

"Good. I still want to keep you here for a few hours, just in case. I also want to check your shoulder before you go but I know how eager you are to see Miss March. So, I'm going to let the nurse take you over there for a few hours. I'll even have them bring your breakfast over there." James laughed at Carlton's grimace. "Don't worry, they usually give the slightly better food to those that only stay a day or two. I want you back in here by 9:30 so I can clear you myself before I go off work at 10. Deal?"

"Yes. Thank you doctor."

"No problem. I should be checking on Miss March in about a half hour, so I see you there."

Carlton nodded as he watched the doctor leave.

* * *

><p>When Carlton entered Beth's room, not much had changed since he had left. Beth was still asleep and Amy was silently reading a book. Looking up, Amy smiled as she whispered, "You're up early! I wasn't expecting you until at least 7, possibly 8."<p>

"Yeah, well I was never one to sleep in hospitals without being heavily drugged." Once the nurse left the room, Carlton got up and sat in one of the chairs. They weren't too comfortable, but definitely better than a wheelchair. "Any changes?"

"No. But I guess no news is better than bad news." She stood up and stretched. "I'll be right back. Dan usually gets up about now for work so I need to call him. Lucky for you guys, my school has a snow day but I'm not sure about Dan or Adam. I might have to leave for an hour or so to get Adam and bring him to my parents, assuming they're up and don't want to come by. I can probably keep them away today but they'll want to see Beth for themselves tomorrow."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Yep." Amy smiled as she left the room.

Sighing, Carlton leaned back and looked at Beth who was still sleeping peacefully. After a few minutes of quiet, he got up to look for the television remote. He had just found the remote when a noise from the bed grabbed his attention. Seeing that Beth was starting to wake up, Carlton put down the remote and sat on the side of the bed. Taking her hand, he whispered, "Hey, are you going to wake up now?"

Beth slowly opened her eyes and stared around the room for a minute before settling on Carlton. Smiling, she said, "Hey."

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess." She rubbed her eyes and asked, "What happened?"

"Car accident. I swerved to avoid a deer and we ended up going off the road and hitting a tree."

"The great head detective had trouble avoiding a stationary tree on the side of the road?" She teased as she raised the bed.

Rolling his eyes, Carlton replied, "It's not like I purposely drove the car into a tree. It's not my fault that the tires skidded on the snow-covered roads and…."

"Snow?" Beth questioned. "What snow?"

"The 2 or 3 feet of it that has fallen in the last couple of days."

"What? I know that it's wintertime, but it doesn't snow here."

Observing her closely to see if she was joking, Carlton put his hand on her shoulder. "Beth? Can you tell me what day it is?"

"Wednesday? You know I'm bad at dates," She laughed nervously.

"Just, just answer the question, okay?"

"It's the, um 12th or 13th?"

"Of?" Carlton prompted, guessing what she would say.

"January?" She asked nervously, "That's not right, is it?"

Seeing that she was close to freaking out, Carlton squeezed her shoulder and gave her a small smile. "I think that we should wait for the doctor."

"Oh my god," Beth whispered as she covered her mouth and shook her head. "How off am I?"

"You're fine! I think that I'm going to go get the doctor myself." Carlton started to get off the bed when Beth grabbed his arm.

"No! You can't leave me right now!" She pleaded. "I, I….Oh my god, this can't be happening to me!"

"Hey, I'm right here and everything is going to be fine," Carlton said softly as he rubbed her arm. She shook her head and started crying. Carlton was about to reassure her again when the door opened and a new voice came in.

"Hey! Look who's finally awake!" Amy said cheerfully.

"A-Amy?" Beth gasped as she looked between Amy's face and stomach.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Amy asked as she walked over and took Beth's hand.

"I, um I don't k-know," Beth stuttered as her breathing started to become labored.

"Amy, can you get the doctor?" Carlton asked as he took Beth's other hand and held it over his chest with his left. "Beth, look at me. You need to breath slowly like me. In and out." He ran his other hand through her hair and settled it at the back of her neck.

Beth nodded as Amy let go of her hand and left again. Beth locked eyes with Carlton as her breathing slowly calmed down.

After a couple minutes, Carlton asked, "How are you feeling?"

She gave a shaky laugh, "Um, scared, confused, nervous. What else would you expect?"

"I don't know." He smiled as he leaned back. "Can I get you anything?"

"Water?" She shrugged.

Nodding, Carlton got up and grabbed the pitcher to fill it up in the bathroom. As he was handing her a cup, Amy and Doctor Kirkpatrick came in. Amy gave Beth a smile as she sat in a chair, letting Carlton take the closer one.

James came around the other side of the bed. "Hello Elizabeth. My name is Doctor James Kirkpatrick. Can you tell me what you remember of the accident?"

Beth glanced at Carlton nervously as she shook her head. "I don't, I don't remember it."

"Okay. Can you tell me some simple things? Like where you are and the date?"

"I thought that I was in Santa Barbara and it was the middle of January but based on Carlton's reactions, I guess I'm off by a lot, at least a month."

The doctor frowned as he took out his penlight and checked her eyes. "Okay, tell me what you do remember."

"Um, Carlton and I had just gotten into his car after I spent the day with Henry, painting his house. We were discussing different types of music and my," she coughed nervously as she glanced at Amy. "A case he was working on."

James nodded as he wrote something down. "Okay. Can you tell me if you're in any pain or experiencing nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, headache, anything?"

"Well, my ankle hurts but I can also feel the bandages on it. I also have a slight headache."

"Can you tell me if the pain seems to be on one side or the other?" James asked as he gently probed her head.

"The right side," Beth hissed as the doctor pressed a spot behind and above her right ear.

"There does seem to be a slight bump there." He picked up the chart and wrote something else down. "I'm going to recommend an MRI and CAT scan, we should be able to get you in this morning. In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions you want, hopefully they can help jog your memory. Also, no getting out of bed without someone to help you, preferably a nurse but definitely not Carlton."

Beth smirked as Carlton snorted, "Thanks doctor."

"No problem. I should be back in a few hours to check on you."

James was halfway to the door when Carlton stood up and asked, "Doctor, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course, but you really should be in a wheelchair."

Carlton glared as he walked past the doctor and out the door. When they got to his room, Carlton asked, "Why would she lose over two months of memory from a single, small bump to the head?"

James sighed as he directed Carlton to the chairs and sat down next to him. "The brain is a very complex and mysterious organ. We don't understand even half of everything it could and does do."

"By the look on your face, I can tell that you at least suspect something."

"This morning I had the chance to look over Elizabeth's medical records. And while it only gives the medical history, not the circumstances around them, I could tell that about 2 months ago, she went through something very traumatic."

Carlton nodded, "Yeah. Her ex-boyfriend managed to attack and rape her. I tried to get there in time, but he was already on top of her. And then a few days later, he went after her again. They were both close calls."

"And how did she handle them?"

"How does anyone react to rape? She was a bit more distant and emotional. There were a few panic attacks and a lot of crying sessions." Carlton took a deep breath before admitting, "There was a suicide scare. She claimed that it was just a way to feel something physical but I could tell that, for at least a second, she contemplated suicide."

James sighed, "We won't know for sure until we get the scans done, but I believe that this is a result of the brain trying to protect itself from the new traumatic memories by blocking out the most recent traumatic events and everything in between. I would suggest not bringing up the events of a couple months ago, since it might do more harm than good. Like I said, the brain is very mysterious and I don't know what will happen when those memories are, let's say, unlocked. Just let it happen naturally. Try not to leave her alone for long periods of time, especially if she has a history of suicidal tendencies, but don't treat her any differently. Treating her like a kid or something fragile will do no good either. I'm going to contact the neurologist on call today and see if she has any suggests."

"How long will she have to spend here? Because she'll want to leave as soon as possible."

"Like I said, we don't know what's wrong, so I can only give you an approximation. The earliest would be this afternoon with hopefully the latest being tomorrow night, but it might be longer."

"Thanks doc." Carlton nodded as they both stood up and headed for the door.

"I'll be by in a few hours to check on her and hopefully get you released. Be good."


	19. Chapter 19

_**CHAPTER 19**_

When Carlton came back, Amy was telling Beth about Adam. "He loves the snow so much! Yesterday after church, we went sledding and he had so much fun going down on Dan's lap. He wanted to go down by himself but we wouldn't let him because of all the big kids there, so he threw this massive tantrum. We ended up going home early, where he continued his tantrum for about a half hour, until he had cried himself to sleep."

Beth laughed as she turned to Carlton in the doorway. "Are you coming in or are you going to act like a guard dog and stand by the door all day?"

Carlton growled, which only made her laugh harder. "If you're just going to make fun of me, I can just leave."

"No! Don't do that! I'll be good, ish." Beth smiled before scooting over and patting the empty space on her bed. "Come on, join us."

Shaking his head, Carlton walked over and took his previous seat in the chair next to Amy. Beth sighed as she reached for her cup.

"So, after your mysterious departure with the doctor," Beth began. "Amy was just filling me in on some of the more important stuff that has happened recently, including telling me the date. I just can't believe that I'm missing over 2 months of memories!" She huffed and shook her head.

"Don't worry, they'll come back in time. Just be patient." Carlton said.

"Be patient? You should know me well enough by now, I am a very impatient person when it comes to things that matter to me. And believe me, getting my memories back is very important!"

Before anyone could comment, a candy stripper knocked and came in. "Good morning! I heard that I need to bring in 2 trays, is that correct?"

"Yeah," Carlton said regretfully.

The candy stripper smiled as she brought in two trays, handing one to Carlton before grabbing the rolling table and placed it over Beth's lap with her tray. "Enjoy. I should be back in an hour to collect the leftovers. Bye."

Looking down at his tray, Carlton frowned as he tried to figure out how to hold his tray and eat with one hand.

As if sensing his dilemma, Beth sighed and said, "Come on, you can share my table."

"No, it's okay. I'll figure something out."

"Carlton! Stop being so stubborn and get up here! I don't bite, most of the time anyways."

Seeing the stubborn look Beth was giving him, Carlton sighed as he carefully got up and walked around the bed. Without asking, Beth took his tray and set it with hers. Once he sat, she patted his head and said, "Good boy, Lassie!"

Carlton growled, "You better be glad that I don't have my gun or I would have shot you for that."

"No you wouldn't have, so stop lying. Here, I'll even butter your toast for you."

Amy laughed as she stood up. "Listen, I've got to go pick Adam up and see if our parents are awake yet. I should be back in an hour."

"Oh, please don't tell me that you told them!" Beth practically whined as she continued buttering.

"Not yet, but I'm going to have to eventually."

"Why? This is nothing major."

Amy scoffed as she crossed her arms, "Nothing major? Beth! You crashed your car and ended up in the hospital with a sprained ankle and memory loss. This isn't something that you can sweep under the rug."

"Technically, Carlton crashed the car and I should be walking out of here tonight. Well, walking with crutches, but it's still not that bad."

"You have amnesia and it might take weeks for you to get your memory back! How are you going to fake that?"

"It's only 2 months worth of memories, no big deal. Besides, you said that I was suppose to leave in a couple days. I could totally avoid them for that long. Carlton can catch me up on some of the major points just in case, right Carlton?" She asked as she looked at him, putting the toast down.

Carlton shook his head. "Leave me out of your argument."

Amy sighed as she put on her coat, "I have to tell them something today because you know, one way or another, they will find out and then all of us are going to be in trouble."

"Yeah I know." Beth played with her food before saying, "You need to go home and sleep, okay? I'll be fine. I've got Carlton here and plenty of doctors and nurses. Don't come back until after lunch."

"Fine. I'll try to bring you guys some food or something. Bye."

"Bye!" Beth smiled slightly as she watched her sister leave. As soon as the door closed, she sighed and started on her own breakfast. They ate in silence for a couple minutes until Beth asked, "So, when's the date?"

Carlton raised an eyebrow as he drank some orange juice, asking, "What date?"

"Our wedding date?"

He nearly choked on the juice and it took him a few seconds to stop coughing in order to get out, "W-what? Why, why would you even think that?"

"I just, just assumed that we had to be getting serious if I decided to stay in Santa Barbara and you came all the way out to Cleveland to meet my family. Especially if you're still here after meeting them. So, we aren't getting married?" She blushed and refused to look at him, opting to play with her food instead.

Carlton nervously ran a hand through his hair. "No, we're just friends, good friends. You decided that you liked Santa Barbara so you've been staying in my guestroom for the past few months. You said that you needed help to pack and move and I have plenty of unused vacation time so I came with you. We decided together that we weren't cut out to date."

"But we did kiss, I have a vague memory that we kissed," Beth asked softly as she glanced at him. "Or am I just imagining it."

He blushed as he nodded. "Yeah. A very spur of the moment thing that had more to do with too many emotions and adrenaline than an attraction."

"Maybe on your end, but I think that I'm very attracted to you."

"That, that may be so," Carlton coughed nervously. "But now would not be the best time to start anything. After you get your memories back and we get you re-settled in Santa Barbara, we can revisit this, if you still want to."

Beth sighed as she went back to her food. "Okay, fair enough."

Tapping his fingers nervously as they lapsed into silence, Carlton finally said "Look, it's just that you told me yourself that you needed a friend more than a boyfriend or l-lover. And right now, I believe that the same thing is true: you really just need a friend."

"For everything there is a season," she said quietly.

"Yeah, exactly."

She turned to him and smiled slightly, "Thanks Carlton."

"You're welcome."

"So," she pushed her food away and moved the table closer to him. "Amy and Dan know, and eventually so will my parents. Anyone else?"

"O'Hara knows because she's my emergency contact. And since I'm apparently your emergency contact…."

"What?"

"Yeah, I was just as surprised as you when they told me last night. Since O'Hara didn't have any of your family's numbers and I wasn't awake yet when the hospital called her, she asked Henry to come. He should be here by lunch."

Beth sighed, "Why is everyone making such a big deal out of this? There is no reason for him to come all the way out here."

"By the time I called O'Hara, he had already left. At first, I was against the idea of him coming out but then I realized that neither one of us will be driving anytime soon. So I guess it's better than waiting for one of your siblings to drive us, especially if you still want to leave before the end of the week."

"Oh yeah, I definitely want to leave before the end of the week." She laughed.

"Really? With everything that's going on, I thought that you might want to hang around here a little while. You know, be in familiar surroundings until you get your memories back."

"No way, Jose! I've always wanted to get out, I am not going to risk being stuck here just because of a little memory loss. If you and Amy both say that I was planning on moving to Santa Barbara, then I guess that's what I'm going to do and nothing you or my parents say is going to stop me!"

Carlton chuckled as he pushed the rest of the uneaten food away. "Okay, whatever you want."

"Good! Now, let's see what's on television. Where's the remote?"

Sighing, Carlton got up and got the remote off the dresser. He was about to sit down in one of the chairs when Beth stopped him.

"Can you…I mean, if it's not too much trouble, can you stay up here. On the bed with me." She bit her lip and looked at him nervously.

"Sure," he nodded as he stood to walk back around the bed.

"I mean, if you're not comfortable with it, I totally understand. I don't want to pressure you into anything…." She started rambling.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Carlton said, "It's fine. I understand completely that you feel insecure and just want some comfort. We've shared beds before."

"Really?" Beth asked suggestively.

Sighing, Carlton sat down next to her. "Yes, but nothing even close to romantic. Kind of like a little kid crawling into bed with their parents."

"Eww, don't ever compare our relationship as parent and kid. You just killed any sexual fantasies." She gently pushed his shoulder before shuddering and turning away.

"I wasn't trying to." He shoved back lightly. "Besides, you're the one that has compared me to your father a few times."

Beth paused for a second before nodding, "Yeah, I guess I could see the similarities between the two of you. And from the pictures I've seen, my dad was kind of cute, back when you guys were both in high school together."

"Okay, stop right there!" Carlton put a hand up in front of her smirking face. "I've met your father, and he's at least 25 years older than me. So you're either insinuating that I look 25 years older than I really am or your father looks 25 years younger than he is. Either way, you're very wrong and I hope that it's just your memory loss talking."

Beth just laughed as she turned on the television. Once she found a show that she liked, an old time musical, she settled against Carlton's shoulder. Shaking his head, Carlton just wrapped his arm around her, glad that at least some things hadn't changed.


	20. Chapter 20

_**CHAPTER 20**_

A few hours later found Beth asleep with Carlton close to following her when the doctor came in with a couple of orderlies.

"Is this a bad time?" Doctor James asked.

"No, not at all." Carlton yawned as he nudged Beth awake. She protested at first, snuggling into his side more. Blushing at their audience, Carlton whispered in her ear, "Come on, rise and shine. The doctor's here and you're embarrassing me."

Groaning, she finally sat up a little and opened her eyes. "Fine. But only because I don't want to waste too much of the doctor's time. I'll embarrass you more later."

James tried to hide a snicker as he stepped forward. "Miss March. They're ready for you in radiology. It shouldn't take more than 40 minutes to do both tests. And in the mean time, I can take the detective back to his room to check his shoulder and hopefully release him."

"Sounds good," Carlton replied as he started to stand up.

"Detective. You know that you're not suppose to be walking around by yourself until I clear you." James said sternly as he motioned for one of the orderlies to help him.

Beth laughed as Carlton grudgingly sat in the proffered wheelchair. "Gosh Lassie, why have you been such a bad dog lately?"

Carlton just glared at her as he was wheeled out of the room.

* * *

><p>A half hour later, after being released with instructions to take it easy for the next few days and to get his shoulder rechecked within the week, Carlton was waiting patiently in Beth's room when the door opened. Expecting Beth, he was surprised to see Henry Spencer.<p>

"Henry, sir. I wasn't expecting you until noon, at the earliest."

"Yeah, well I was able to catch an earlier flight. And then the damn car rental place only had minivans and compact cars available. So I ended up getting a '92 Stratus, ugly old rusted thing, but I figured that it would do better in the snow than a '98 Caravan." Collapsing in the seat next to Carlton, Henry looked him over. "So, how did you fair?"

Carlton shrugged his good shoulder. "Dislocated shoulder and a mild concussion. No big deal."

Henry snorted as he drank from his coffee cup. "And Beth?"

"Sprained ankle and amnesia. She's getting tests done now to figure out if there's any brain damage."

"Amnesia eh? How bad is it?"

Carlton sighed, "She can't remember the last 2 months. From the sound of it, her memories stop the night before Fred attacked the two of you in your house. But she seems to be remembering random bits here and there."

"That's a shame. It took her long enough to accept what happened, I'd hate for her to have to relive it all over again."

"Yeah, the doctor said not to push her on that subject and not leave her alone for long periods of time for now."

Henry nodded, "Have you brought up the subject of moving? Does she still want to do it?"

"Yep. Said that she's always wanted to move and that she's not going to let a little memory loss or anyone for that matter stop her."

"That's my girl," Henry chuckled as the door opened.

When Beth was wheeled in, she looked tired but as soon as she saw Henry, her face lit up. "Mr. Spencer! Carlton said that you were coming, but he said later in the day."

"Well, when I heard that my favorite gal was in trouble, I didn't see any point in wasting time," Henry replied smoothly.

She blushed as the orderly helped her get resettled. "Why, Mr. Spencer, you sure know how to cheer a girl up. I guess Shawn had to learn it somewhere."

"You mean he actually learned some manners from me? Now isn't that something. And I've told you plenty of times before, call me Henry."

"Sorry, but the manners that I've grown up with told me to respect my elders, which means calling them by their last names."

"Unless they tell you explicitly not to."

"Very well, Henry." She giggled as she looked towards Carlton. "So, cat's got your tongue, Carlton?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "Nope. Just letting the two of you catch up, that's all."

"So," Henry interrupted while Beth stuck her tongue out at Carlton. "How are you feeling? Besides the whole amnesia bit."

Beth shrugged, "I don't know. Anxious to leave, I guess."

James entered at that point with another doctor. "I guess that's to be expected." James replied as opened the chart. "And I'm happy to report that according to your preliminary reports, you should be able to leave this afternoon, tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Yes!" Beth said excitedly.

Carlton smiled as James chuckled, "Nice to see you in good spirits. Now, I'll be heading out in a few minutes, so Doctor Morgan here will be taking over. I've updated him on your case and he agrees with my suggestions: Crutches for the next few weeks, no pressure on that ankle for at least 2, and no being alone for a few days, at least until your memories come back. Since it doesn't look like a physical trauma, more of a psychological one, we don't know how you will react when your memories return. I've gotten reassurances from both the detective and your sister that you will not stay here any longer than necessary, so we are letting you go as soon as possible."

"Are there any other instructions? And will she be getting pain meds?" Henry asked.

Dr. Morgan stepped forward and said, "She will be getting a prescription for a mild pain reliever, very similar to the detective's, although I strongly suggest against sharing since these two drugs have an interesting interaction with each other."

"Thanks, doctors," Beth smiled.

"No, problem. Let one of the nurses know if you need anything," Dr. Morgan nodded before leaving.

James came over and shook Carlton's hand, "Good day to you. I hope that you guys both heal nicely and quickly."

"Thanks," Carlton replied as James turned to Beth.

"Good Luck, Miss March." James shook her hand as she just smiled slightly.

Once they were left alone, Beth sighed, "So, would now be a bad time to ask about Fred?"

Carlton shared a look with Henry before replying, "What about him?"

She shrugged as she crossed her arms and looked down. "I don't know, how about did you ever catch him? Am I likely to run into him while we're here? Oh God, I hope my family never found out about him!"

Seeing how distressed she was becoming, Carlton leaned forward and took her hand. "Hey, look at me." Once he was looking into her eyes, he squeezed her hand. "You trust me, right?" She nodded. "Then trust me when I say that he is no longer a threat to you. He's behind bars for a few years, nowhere near you. As for your family, only Amy and Susie know, that's it. We already had the awkward mentioning of Fred last weekend with your family, so no worries about having to talk about it, okay?"

Beth took a deep breath and gave him a small smile, "Okay."

"Good." Carlton leaned back and gave her a smile, not letting go of her hand.

Henry coughed lightly and said, "How about a game of chess?"

Beth frowned as she turned to Henry, "Um, I guess? I have to warn you though, I'm not very good at it."

"Nonsense! We play every few weeks and you win often enough to be a bit of a challenge." Henry leaned over and picked up his bag that Carlton hadn't notice before, and pulled out a pretty decent sized board, folded in half to hold all of the pieces.

Beth giggled, "Do you always carry a chess board with you?"

"No. But for some reason, as I was leaving my house last night, I felt the need to grab it." Henry stood up and brought the tray table closer.

"Maybe Shawn got some of his psychic gift from you?"

Henry scoffed, "Believe me, he got that from his mother. I just helped him to focus."

Beth just smiled as she set up her pieces.


	21. Chapter 21

_**CHAPTER 21**_

A little over an hour later, Beth was glaring at the board as she tried to figure out her next move. The supposedly relaxing game of chess only seemed to frustrate Beth. Henry had won the first game in under 20 minutes but the second game lasted almost 30, once again with Henry winning. Beth got quieter and more aggravated as the games went on. Carlton suggested a few times to do something else, but Beth kept refusing, saying that she could figure it out.

She finally moved her knight forward only to have Henry capture it with a "Check."

"No! You can't do that!" Beth whined.

"Sorry Sweetie, but that's how you play the game. Your move."

She bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair. "Ahh! I don't know! Carly, please help!"

"Hey! No help from the peanut gallery. No offense, Carlton."

Carlton scoffed and crossed his arms "No, I agree. She needs to figure this out for herself"

"It's not fair! They gave me pain meds and they always mess with my head!"

"Hey! Don't play that card. They gave me some pretty strong stuff too but I can clearly see where you should play next."

Beth huffed and started to pout as she glared back at the board. Laughter made them all turn to see Amy leaning in the doorway. "I see that you're as much a sore loser as ever!"

"Amy! It's not fair! I'm trying my hardest but I can't think and they aren't helping!" Beth whined, running a hand through her hair again.

"You just have to focus," Henry replied.

"I can't," Beth sighed.

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath?"

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

Beth finally took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Amy slowly walked over and sat on the bed near her sister's feet. After a few seconds, Henry said, "Now try to picture the board."

She shook her head and said, "I can't."

"Just try. Peek if you must, but try to picture it in your head."

"I, I still can't do it." Beth said dejectedly as she opened her eyes.

"Okay. Then just concentrate on the board. Now, there are basically three options, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What are they?"

"Um, move my king, block your piece or capture your piece?"

"Okay. Out of all the possible moves that you can make, which would be the most beneficial to you?"

"I don't know, capture your piece?"

"And how would you do that without leaving your king wide open."

Beth whined as she stared at the board. After a long pause, Carlton was about to suggest that they do something else when Beth finally said, "No, the best thing move would be to sacrifice a pawn so that I can capture your piece without compromising my king's defenses."

Henry smiled as he patted her leg. "Exactly! See, you can do it."

Beth smiled with relief as she turned to Carlton. "I'm glad that's over. I swear, I was one second from a breakdown."

"You did good." Carlton replied as he failed to hide his smile.

Turning to Amy, Beth asked, "So, why are you back so soon? And did you bring me any food?"

Amy laughed, "Does it look like I brought food with me?"

"No, but I honestly was more concerned about figuring out my next move than if you were carrying any food bags. And you didn't answer my first question."

"Okay, fine. But first, aren't you going to make some introductions or something?" Amy asked as she gestured to Henry.

"Oh, right, sorry. So this is Henry Spencer, a former cop from Santa Barbara and this is my favorite sister, Amy Gilbert."

Amy laughed as she stood up to shake Henry's hand. "Nice to meet you, sir. I've heard a bit about you."

"Likewise. And you can call me Henry."

Moving the tray with the chessboard off to the side, Beth leaned forward. "Now that that's over, can we get back to the reason why you didn't bring me food when you said you would?"

"I said that I would try. It's not my fault that half the places on the way here weren't open. But I did bring you some banana bread that I made yesterday." Amy pulled a saran wrapped loaf out of her purse. "It was suppose to be part of a farewell snack basket that I was going to give you tomorrow, but figured that you could use this now."

"Oh my gosh, you are the best!" Beth exclaimed as she reached for it. "Homemade banana bread with glaze! Yummy."

"You are going to share that, right?" Carlton asked as Beth began to unwrapped it.

"I wasn't really planning on it, no. You know that I love bread and bananas."

"But it's rude to eat in front of people."

"It's also rude to ask for somebody's gift that they just got."

"Not if it's food."

"Well, what would you trade me for it?"

"I don't have anything."

"Exactly." Beth smiled as she broke a piece off and ate it.

"Beth!" Amy exclaimed. "I can't believe that you would be so mean!"

"I'm just teasing him," Beth smirked as she offered the bread to Henry and Carlton.

"See what I have to put up with?" Carlton asked Amy before turning back to Beth. "Maybe I should just leave you with your parents while I take a plane back to Santa Barbara."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me." Carlton said simply as they engaged in a short staring contest.

Eventually, Beth sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine! I'll try to tone it down a bit."

"That's all I ask."

Shaking his head, Henry stood up and said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to head down to the cafeteria and get some more coffee. Maybe some lunch."

"Can you bring me back something yummy?" Beth asked hopefully.

Henry smiled slightly. "I'll think about it. Would anyone else like some coffee?"

"Yes please," Carlton answered immediately. "Three creams, four sugars."

"Wow, that's a lot." Amy laughed before turning to Henry. "No thanks, I'm not really a fan."

"Can I get you something else? Tea, juice, water."

"I'm good." Amy smiled.

"Okay, I'll be right back then." Henry nodded as he left.

Once the door shut, Beth turned to Carlton with a grin. "Really Carly? Three creams, four sugars? What's the point of even having coffee in it? You might as well melt ice cream and drink that."

Carlton glared and crossed his arms, "For your edification…"

"Edification?" Beth laughed.

"Yes. For your edification, I get coffee for the caffeine, not the taste."

"Why don't you just drink energy shots then?"

"Because coffee is easier to get and a lot cheaper. Plus, I don't want to get an addiction to energy drinks."

"Oh yeah, because there is no way to get addicted to coffee," Beth replied sarcastically.

"Anyways," Amy interrupted before things got worse. "I have some updates and news to deliver. Would you like to hear the good stuff first or the bad stuff?"

"I don't know, tell it in whatever order you feel like." Beth shrugged.

"Okay. When I showed up at mom's with Adam this morning, she basically ambushed me with questions, wanting to know what happened and why you weren't answering your phone."

"Oh man! How did she find out?" Beth whined.

"Well, last night, when both of you were asleep, an officer came in to get an update and asked if you had a preference for auto repair shops. I gave him the info for Bobby's garage. Apparently the police dropped your car off around 6:30 this morning, and Bobby was the one to sign the papers. Since the police told him that you two were admitted to the hospital, he called mom right away and left a message on her machine before trying Jo and myself. I was driving home when he called me, so I didn't pick up. I called him back before going to mom's, but of course the damage had already been done."

"So the whole family knows what happened?"

"Yep. But I only told them about you two's physical injuries, so they don't know about the amnesia or concussion. Although mom is insisting on coming by tomorrow for dinner."

"Fine. I know that she would never let me live it down if I refuse." Beth sighed before continuing. "I hope she's okay with pizza, because I sure as hell ain't cooking nor am I going to subject either of my guests to cook for her."

Carlton coughed and asked, "So, what is the good news in all of this?"

"First, Beth's car wasn't too badly dinged up and should be ready sometime tomorrow afternoon. Bobby said that they currently only have one other car in the shop and that other than snow plowing, he has plenty of time to fix it up. Second, Susie headed over to your house to check on your pets, and they're fine. Apparently the vet called to remind you about appointments tomorrow."

"Oh crap," Turning to Carlton, Beth asked, "Did you know about them?"

"Nope," Carlton replied. "I think you mentioned about taking them but you never told me that you made appointments."

"It's fine." Amy reassured them. "Susie said that she can stop by tomorrow and take them. She'll bring her mom's minivan so that you can come as well. I assume you just want a final check up and get their records faxed over, right?"

"I don't know. That sounds good, I guess." Beth shrugged.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Amy covered her mouth. "I forgot!"

Beth snorted, "You forgot that I can't remember? That's funny."

"Sorry, but it's been a long day and the conversation has made it feel like old times that I forgot that something was wrong. Sorry."

"It's fine! I'd rather you forget something was wrong and treat me normally than acting weirdly and skirting around stuff."

"So I'm forgiven?" Amy asked sheepishly.

"Of course you are! You're my little sister!" Beth smiled.

"Oh," Amy huffed. "So if I was some random friend, I wouldn't be forgiven so easily?"

"Well, duh!" Beth laughed.

Carlton just smiled as he watched the two of them laugh over such a mundane thing. The feel-good moment was only broken up by the arrival of a candy stripper with lunch.


	22. Chapter 22

_**CHAPTER 22**_

A few hours later found Carlton and Henry watching as the two sisters played Idiot Solitaire, as they insisted it was called. Amy won all but one game, each by a margin of 10 cards or less. Beth didn't mind since that was what usually happened and at least she was getting rid of more than three/fourths of her cards each time.

After the fifth game, Beth sighed, "Why do I keep picking games that involve fast thinking and logic when I can't really think with these drugs?"

"I don't know, because you like torturing yourself?" Amy replied as she sorted the cards.

"Whatever. Do you want to play speed?"

"How about a game that everyone can play?"

"Okay, but Carlton only has use of one arm, so that eliminates a lot of games."

"Hey," Carlton put up his hand peacefully. "don't let me stop your fun!"

"No, it's fine. We can play poker or blackjack." Amy replied as she picked her cards up.

"Blackjack." Beth nodded.

"Okay."

"Amy, you get to shuffle." Beth said as she put her deck off to the side

"Oh, why thank you. Because I love nothing better than to shuffle." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yep. Don't I know you so well?" Beth smiled widely.

"Doesn't that mean that I'm dealer?"

"Unfortunately."

Amy just laughed as she moved the tray so everyone could reach it and passed out the cards.

* * *

><p>Halfway through the 8th round, the door opened and Dr Morgan came in with yet another doctor.<p>

"Hello everyone." He politely greeted. "I hope I'm not interrupting?"

"No, it's fine." Carlton sighed as he leaned back from the game. He hadn't been doing so well and appreciated the break.

"Hi Dr Morgan." Beth smiled slightly as she handed over her cards.

"Hello Miss March. I've got some good news for you. Since your exams came back clean, we are going to release you within the hour."

"So I can go home?" Beth asked hopefully.

The other doctor smiled and stepped forward. "In a bit. My name is Dr. Tanya Williams and I'm the hospital psychiatrist. I would like to talk to you alone for a few minutes, if that's okay?"

When Beth didn't reply right away, looking down at her lap instead, Tanya continued. "This in no way is going to keep you here longer. I just want to talk to you about how you are feeling about all this and to prepare you for what might happen in the next few days and weeks."

Sighing, Beth looked at Amy who smiled and patted her arm, "What can it hurt?"

Turning back to Tanya, Beth asked, "Just a few minutes?"

"Yes, I promise." Tanya smiled.

"I guess," Beth sighed.

"Good. Now, may I ask the rest of you to leave the room? I'll have a nurse come find you soon enough."

Nodding, Carlton followed as they filed out, sparing one last glance at the door to see how nervous Beth looked.

Once they reached the end of the hall where there were a few chairs and drinks machine, Amy leaned against the wall and said, "Wow, I'm actually a bit surprised that she agreed to it."

"Yeah, me too." Carlton agreed as looked at the choices of drinks.

"Has she always been reluctant to talk to psychologists?" Henry asked.

Amy ran a hand through her hair as she thought. "I'm not entirely sure. At least since high school. In elementary and middle school, she had speech therapy since she had a slight speech impediment. She convinced them in 8th grade to stop the sessions but the only reason she gave me was that they kept taking her out of choir, which of course was her favorite class." Amy laughed slightly. "She told me once, about 8 years ago, that she wished that she hadn't stopped them. But then laughed and said that it was another mistake in a long line of things she wished she could change." Amy shook her head.

They lapsed into silence for a minute before Amy changed the subject. "So, I'm thinking that you two can drive Beth back to her place while I get her prescriptions filled and dinner. How does that sound?"

"Okay, I guess" Carlton shrugged.

"Yeah, that's fine." Henry replied as his phone went off. Shaking his head when he checked the caller id, he answered, "What is it Shawn? … It was fine, what do you want?" Henry sighed as he walked away from the other two. "Cut the crap and tell me what you want to know. … Yeah, they're both fine. Carlton got released this morning and Beth will be released within the hour. …"

Noticing a nurse coming towards them, Carlton stepped to meet her.

"Hello. Dr. Williams asked if a Detective Lassiter could join them?"

Carlton shared a look with Amy as she asked, "Just him?"

"Yes. She said that it would be just for a few minutes and then the rest of you can come back."

"Okay," Carlton shrugged as he started back down the hall.

Stepping into the room, Carlton noticed right away that Beth had been crying. Moving quickly to her side, he asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Beth sniffled, "Just bad memories."

"You got some of your memory back?" Carlton asked with concern as he glanced at the doctor.

Beth shook her head as Tanya replied, "Not yet. Since apparently no one has actually talked to Beth about why she might have lost her memories, I explained to her that sometimes the brain will block out a traumatic event in order to protect itself. She was just explaining to me why she thinks such a simple accident had triggered such a response."

Carlton sighed and rubbed Beth's arm. "I'm sorry that you had to relive that."

"Ditto," Beth nodded as she wiped her eyes. "I just wish that my memory of the last two months would come back so I could stop feeling so hopeless!"

"Yeah, me too," Carlton sighed.

"Now Carlton, based on the short notes that Dr. Kirkpatrick had given me, we are assuming that her brain is trying to protect her from a traumatic experience that happened about two months ago. Is that correct?"

"Yeah. Did he give you details?" Carlton asked cautiously.

Tanya shook her head as she glanced at her clipboard. "No, it just says that something happened about two months ago and that you were with Beth at the time."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. But she did get through it." Turning back to Beth, he said, "You got through it, okay"

"You're making me nervous," Beth laughed shakily.

"Beth, I don't want you to worry about it too much." Tanya smiled reassuringly as she continued. "Your memories might come tomorrow or next week or not at all. You just have to remember that you got through it once, you can get through it again." Beth nodded. "I want you to repeat after me: I can't change the past, only the future."

"I can't change the past, only the future."

"I got through this once, I can do it again."

"I got through this once, I can do it again."

"I'm not alone, there are people who will help me."

"I'm not alone, there are people who will help me." Beth smiled at Carlton.

"Good. Now can you repeat all of that back for me?"

"I can't change the past, only the future. I got through this once, I can do it again. I'm not alone, there are people who will help me."

Tanya smiled, "I want you to say that anytime you feel overwhelmed. Since you experienced panic attacks and a few suicide attempts…"

Beth laughed shakily as she ran a hand through her hair. "I am not suicidal! I have a really strong stance against suicide, I won't even cut myself."

Tanya looked down at her notes. "It says here that two months ago, you had quite a few panic attacks and a suicide attempt. Is that correct Carlton?"

When Carlton didn't answer right away, Beth looked at him unbelievingly. "Carlton?"

Clearing his throat, he said rather quickly, "It wasn't so much an attempt as a, um, a scare. I found you with a knife to your wrist. And it freaked me out. One because I hadn't seen any signs, well at least I thought I didn't. Two, it was only really by luck that I even found you when I did. And three, you had this look of utter defeat on your face that told me that at least part of you would have gone through with it, which made me feel even more scared and …."

"Carlton. Carlton stop!" Beth exclaimed, halting him. "I, um I don't, don't believe you." She laughed nervously. "I would never have done such a thing! The closest I get is chopping off half my hair."

Carlton smiled slightly, "Beth, I would never lie to you. You did start by cutting off half your hair." He ran a hand through her messy layers. "When I first met you, your hair was halfway down your back. The morning I found you with the knife, you had chopped off more than 12 inches."

Beth looked down and ran a hand through her hair. Closing her eyes, she took some deep breaths. "It was, um, sunrise and still a bit chilly. I had my eyes closed but I heard you race across the porch and still the knife. Even though you tried to speak calmly, I could hear the panic in your voice. You, um tore your shirt and wrapped my wrist before kneeling in front of me and getting me to talk about it a bit."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Carlton tried to keep his face neutral as he asked, "You're remembering?"

Beth nodded, "I don't remember everything that was said, but I think that you made me a promise to always be there for me and I quietly made a promise to myself that I would never scare you like that again." She laughed shakily as she wiped some tears away. "I guess I haven't held up my end very well."

"Hey, you're fine. You can't control everything." Carlton pulled her into as tight of a hug as he could while still minding his injured arm.

Beth sniffled as she hugged back, "I know."

After a few seconds, Tanya coughed and said, "I'd hate to break up this moment, but I've still got a few things to discuss."

Carlton blushed as they pulled apart, completely forgetting that they weren't alone. Seeing his face, Beth laughed, "What's wrong Carlton? Not comfortable with PDA?"

"Like you're one to talk," he grumbled as he turned to face the doctor.

Tanya smiled at Beth. "As I was saying before, Beth, I'd prefer it if you weren't alone for long periods of time. I'm not saying that you need a babysitter every second of the day, but you need to be able to get help quickly if you start to experience a panic attack." Turning to Carlton, she continued, "As you probably already know, if and when she has a panic attack, you need to try and calm her down as best you can. Rubbing her arm or back to give her something to concentrate on and encouraging her to take deep breaths. If after 15 minutes the attack shows no signs of stopping or she passes out, you should call an ambulance or take her to the hospital immediately."

"Okay." Carlton replied as he rubbed Beth's arm.

"And Beth, one last word of advice," Tanya smiled at Beth's nervousness. "I strongly recommend that you talk to a professional about this, preferably before your memories come back. It's obvious that the you developed PTSD after the events of a couple months ago and that your way of handling it hasn't worked as well as you would have hoped. Am I right, Carlton?"

Carlton nodded. "I know that it might be hard, but you have a lot of people backing you up, both here in Ohio and in Santa Barbara. We just want the best for you."

"Thanks Carlton." Beth smiled as she nervously played with her hair.

"Now, do you have any questions? Or should we let the other two back in? I'm sure they're getting anxious." Tanya smiled.

* * *

><p><em><strong><span>Author's Notes:<span> In case any of you were wondering, you are now caught up to what I have on Psychfic (YAY!). I'll try to post on both sites on the same day, but no guarantees, and also try to keep my ramblings/commentary to a minimum on this site, again no guarantees.**_


	23. Chapter 23

**_ Quick note:_ I'm starting to look for a betareader, preferably someone who doesn't mind slash and is a fan of Quantum Leap but I guess I can have more than one. Obviously those stories will be posted on fanfiction but I have a few stories that can be posted on psychfic. Let me know if anyone is interested :D**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 23<strong>_

When they got to Beth's house, they saw Frisco in the front window barking at them. Beth smiled as they continued up the driveway and whispered, "Oh, I've missed you do much Frisco." Figuring that she wasn't looking for a response, Carlton pointed out to Henry about how far to park in order to close the gate.

Getting out of the low car was a bit difficult for Beth with the crutches but with help from Henry, they eventually made it up to the backdoor without a problem. Amy had mentioned that Susie and her "secret" boyfriend had made sure that the driveway and paths were both shoveled and salted. Amy had made a minor comment about wanting to know who the boyfriend was but left it at that.

Carlton unlocked the door and went in first in order to move Frisco out of the way. But the dog was a tad bit determined and pushed right past Carlton and tried to jump on Beth.

"EEK!" She exclaimed as she stumbled back a bit. Luckily Henry was behind her and helped to steady her. "Geez Frisco, take it easy!"

"Come on, dog," Carlton said as he pulled the dog back a few feet.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Beth finally moved into the house some more, letting Frisco get a clear view of Henry. The dog started back and tried to get closer to Henry.

Henry simply crossed his arms and said calmly, "Don't even try it dog."

Frisco immediately started growling which only caused Henry to glared. After a minute, the dog finally stopped, even put his head down slightly.

Beth laughed as she took off her coat. "Dang Henry, I think that you're even worse than Carlton when it comes to dogs."

Carlton looked at her confusedly as Henry stepped forward and pet Frisco briefly as he said, "You just have to show them you're not a push over, that you're in charge. That way if something happens, it will look to you for guidance instead of freaking out too much."

"Hmm, food for thought I guess." Beth shrugged before making her way to the living room. She stopped at the doorway and asked, "Can one of you guys get me a glass of water? I obviously have my hands full."

"Sure," Carlton replied as he let Frisco go and went to the sink. They had packed most of the dishes Sunday afternoon, only leaving out what they thought they would still need. Although, with Henry and who knows how many people that might stop by before they leave, they would most likely have to unpack some more.

After taking off his coat, Henry went over to the fridge and looked inside.

"Amy is getting dinner." Carlton commented as he headed for the living room.

"I know, I just want to make sure that nothing will go bad in the next day or so. Looks like some nice steaks here."

"Yeah, I forgot that Beth was going to make some stir-fry tonight since the plans were for Amy and her family to come over."

"Well, I can cook the steak tonight and then we can have it for either breakfast or lunch tomorrow."

"Okay, but Beth didn't really want either of us to be cooking when we're doing so much for her already."

Henry chuckled as he got out the steak and vegetables. "That kid needs to learn to accept help from others. Besides, I'd rather cook it and have her be a little upset then let it go to waste."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." Carlton commented as he stepped into the living room and walked to the couch.

"Warn him of what?" Beth asked sleepily as she took the glass of water. She had her foot elevated on the coffee table with Frisco on the couch next to her and Murphy on her lap.

"That you would prefer it if neither of us cooked."

"Isn't Amy bringing food?"

"Yes, but Henry is cooking up the steak before it goes bad so we can have it tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. As long as he cooks it medium-well, it's fine by me."

"I'm pretty sure he knows hoe you like it but I'll remind him anyways."

"Thanks Carly! You're such a dear," Beth grinned brightly.

Carlton growled as he turned back to the kitchen. "Don't call me Carly."

"But you're okay with me calling you dear? Now that's interesting…."

Carlton ignored her slight laugh as he went to help Henry, who was opening all the drawers. "Where are the skillets?" Henry asked.

"Oh, um probably still in the dishwasher." Carlton moved around him and opened the dishwasher. "Beth had decided to make as much food as possible yesterday morning which somehow involved using 2 skillets, a pan and 2 saucepans."

"Wow. How much food did she make?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know," Carlton replied as his phone went off. Stepping aside, he answered quickly, "Lassiter."

"Hello Mr. Lassiter! This is Cecelia with Pods moving and storage. I'm calling to confirm your order."

"Right, yeah. Sorry, it's been a crazy 24 hours." Carlton went over to the kitchen table where they had left the paperwork.

"It's okay sir. Now, we have you down for a 9am drop off tomorrow morning and then a 5pm pick up Wednesday afternoon. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. And then it will be delivered to our storage center in Ventura, California next Monday, around 7pm. Is that correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"Good. Do you have any questions?"

"Do I need to be there for pick up or delivery?"

"Only for the initial drop off sir, although we do recommend someone to be there for the other two."

"Okay, thank you. Is that it?"

"Yes, unless you have any other questions?"

"No, I don't."

"Alrighty then. We'll see you tomorrow morning. Thank you for choosing Pods for your moving and storage needs."

"Yeah, no problem." Carlton quickly hung up as he noticed Amy coming to the back door with quite a few bags. Opening the door for her, he asked, "Got enough food?"

Amy laughed as she went past him and placed the food on the kitchen counter. "Probably, but I wasn't sure what type of Chinese food you guys liked so I got a good variety. Plus, it makes great leftovers." She took off her coat as Frisco entered the room. "Hey buddy! How's it going?" Frisco barked excitedly and then went back into the living room after Amy petted him. "Oh, thanks for the love!" She huffed, hanging her coat on a chair.

"Beth's in the other room and Frisco seemed pretty excited to see her." Carlton said as he grabbed a few plates.

"Hey! Don't dirty up those dishes! I bought some disposable plates and silverware while I was waiting for the prescriptions." She started emptying the bags when she noticed that Henry was standing over the stove. "And what are you making? I have perfectly good Chinese food right here!"

Henry laughed as he turned to face her. "Well, I couldn't let this nice steak go to waste. It'll make a good breakfast meal."

"Alright then," Amy smiled as she put spoons in the containers. "Hey Carlton, does Beth still like orange chicken?"

"Yeah. She won't eat anything too spicy or with soy sauce though."

"She still doesn't like soy sauce?" Amy laughed as she started filling a plate. "Okay, I guess I'll stick to the classics that she loves. Help yourselves. Whatever doesn't get eaten I'll talk home with me." Amy gave them a smile as she went into the living room with two plates.

By the time Carlton had filled his plate and entered the living room, Beth was halfheartedly picking at her food while Amy was trying to find something to watch on tv. He sat down in the chair closest to Beth and asked, "What's wrong?"

Beth yawned and said, "Nothing, I'm just tired and Amy interrupted my nap."

"Hey!" Amy laughed. "You've had a long day and will need your strength for yet another long day tomorrow."

"I agree," Carlton commented as he started on his food.

Beth sighed as she took a bite. After a moment to chew, she said, "You know, Chinese was never one of my favorite meals."

Amy shrugged, "Sorry, but there weren't a whole lot of choices with the storm and you said that you wanted pizza tomorrow."

"It's okay," Beth yawned again as she slowly ate her food.

* * *

><p>After everyone had there fill of Chinese and the movie came to a close, Amy stood up quietly and nodded for Carlton to follow her to the kitchen. Beth had fallen asleep not yet an hour ago and Henry had gotten a call from Shawna few minutes earlier and was outside.<p>

As they packed up the Chinese food, Amy said, "So, I've been doing some thinking about logistics for tomorrow."

"Okay," Carlton nodded.

"I figured that while Beth is at vet appointments, you and Henry can stay here and do some more packing. I'm going to call a few of the high schoolers from church who are on break this week and see if they can help load up the storage unit. I'll probably show up around 1 or 2 with them, hopefully without Adam, but no guarantees. Last I heard, Bobby should be bringing Beth's car by 4, but Bobby's not very good with deadlines so he might be an hour or too late. Then I told my parents that I would be by around 5 to pick them up and bring them over. Hopefully they won't want to stay too long and we'll leave by 8. If everything goes well, you guys should be on the road by noon tomorrow!"

Carlton laughed slightly once Amy was done. "Wow, you definitely have it all planned out."

"What can I say, I'm a planner." She smiled brightly and went to get her coat. "I'm just glad that I'm not going with you guys. 3 people in Beth's car with a dog and 2 cats for half a week, no thanks."

Henry chuckled as he came back inside. "Thanks to Shawn, we won't have to worry about that now."

"Why? What did he do this time?" Carlton asked cautiously.

"Nothing bad, I think. He put me in touch with a couple and their son who own an RV and would appreciate it if we brought it to a town just outside of Las Vegas. The couple's oldest granddaughter just had their first kid so they flew out to see them and would appreciate being able to drive back. I'm meeting the son tomorrow morning to pick it up."

"Nice to know that your son is good for something." Carlton said.

"Hey!" Amy laughed. "Beth told me that he is very good at solving crimes."

"Yeah," Carlton snorted. "with his so-called psychic visions. He doesn't take things seriously and usually ends up embarrassing the police department."

"Anyways," Henry interrupted. "I was wondering if you had a map or road atlas? The airport only gave me one of the main roads near Cleveland and I need to get to Pittsburgh."

Amy sighed, "No, sorry I don't and I know that Beth keeps hers in her car. But I bet you can use Beth's computer, assuming of course she hasn't packed it or her printer yet."

"No, they're still hooked up since she was in the process of figuring out our route and what motels allowed pets. I also have my laptop, just in case." Carlton said.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Now that we have that settled, I'm going to go say goodnight to Beth." Amy smiled as she went into the other room.

Once they were alone, Carlton asked, "You do know how to drive an RV, right?"

"Yes, I do." Henry sighed as he went to the sink to wash the few dishes that were there. "I'll have you know that my family use to go camping in them from time to time, even though I preferred tents and would sometimes sleep out in one when given the chance. I even had a few assignments that involved RVs. It's really not that hard. Besides, would you rather be packed in a tiny car for 4 days?"

"No, not really. At least your son isn't here."

"Amen to that," Henry chuckled as Amy came back into the room.

"I told her that I will be back tomorrow after 1 and Susie will be by around 10. If you want to get her upstairs, now would be the time to do it before she falls back asleep." Amy said as she picked up her bags. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a goodnight!"

"Night," Carlton called as he went into the living room. Beth had slouched over onto her side with her ankle still resting on the coffee table. Sighing, he said, "Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Time for bed."

Beth whined as she covered her head. "Why can't you guys just let me sleep?"

"We will. Just as soon as you get upstairs to bed."

"So not fair," Beth mumbled as she sat up. "It's so much work! Why can't I stay down here!"

"Because not only is your bathroom upstairs, but so are your clothes," Carlton said as he handed her the crutches. "Now get moving. The sooner you get upstairs, the sooner you can get back to sleep."

"Fine!" She huffed as she slowly got up and made her way to the stairs. "Next time I get a house, it's going to have a bathroom on the main floor, even if I have to build one myself."

"Have fun with that," Carlton commented, ignoring Beth sticking out her tongue.

Henry laughed as he entered the room. "Glad to see you two are still getting along so well."

"Yeah me, too." Carlton sighed as he watched Murphy and Frisco follow her. "As soon as she's upstairs, I can show you where the computer is and the guest bedroom."

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"The couch. It's not that bad."

"Nonsense, I have to leave around 7 anyways, so it only makes sense that I sleep down here and not disturb either of you in the morning."

"Fine. I'm too tired to argue anyways."


	24. Chapter 24

_**CHAPTER 24**_

A quarter after 5 Tuesday night found Beth and Carlton in the kitchen while Henry was outside, checking the RV. Beth had been pacing, as best she could with her crutches, for the last few minutes. Carlton just watched her as she ranted, hoping that she wouldn't fall.

"Why did I agree to dinner with my parents? There's no way that I can hide the fact that I'm suffering from amnesia. My mom was a nurse for goodness sake! And she's pretty smart too, she'll know that something's up. Oh my god, this must be one of the stupidest things that I've ever done. We don't even have proper seats! Just some folding chairs that have been in my basement for as long as I can remember. Gah! I should have changed the venue to a restaurant or something. Then, depending on the place, we would only be there for an hour, two max, and my mom would be less likely to start something…."

Finally having heard enough, Carlton got up and stood in her path. "Will you please stop pacing. You're giving me a headache."

Beth blushed and bit her lip. "Sorry! I just, I don't know if I can do this!"

"Oh course you can. You've got Henry, Amy and I all on your side. Besides, last time wasn't so bad."

"You told me that last time we had the awkward mentioning of Fred. What else happened?"

"First, you need to sit down before you fall down." Carlton said as he gently led her to one of the kitchen stools. Sighing, he took the seat next to her. "Okay. So last weekend, we went to Amy's to have dinner with your family. You explained how we met and become friends. That you had decided to stay in Santa Barbara but hadn't found an apartment yet and have been staying with me. Your mother questioned everything…."

"Of course she did," Beth interrupted as she shook her head.

"Including our relationship." Carlton continued. "You were upset and turned to alcohol and got drunk. By the time dinner was over, you were pretty wasted and managed to hide it well, until you got sick and ran from the table."

"Oh god! I never get drunk! I must have been having a really bad night."

"Yeah. Amy fed some line about you catching the flu from your sister's kids. As we were trying to leave quietly, your mother called you aside. You never told me what was discussed but by the way you stormed out of the kitchen and kissed me, it's not very hard to guess. Especially when you called back to your mother something about if anything happened it would be your fault not mine. Then we left."

"Oh God!" Beth groaned as she covered her face with both hands. "I can't believe I did that! She must hate me for it."

"I don't think so, but she did call you the next morning to check up on you and supposedly called my boss to find out more about me."

"Seriously? Wow. I would have loved to have heard that phone conversation."

"All I know is that a few days later, I got a call from Chief Vick telling me not to have overprotective mothers calling her to check up on me and that I'd better watch my back. I think I'm actually more afraid of what she'll say to me than to you."

"Oh, don't worry Carly!" Beth smiled as she patted his hand. "You'll have me, Amy and Henry there to back you up if needed."

Carlton just glared at her as they heard a car pull up.

* * *

><p>While they were eating, they went through the normal pleasantries of introductions and checking on everyone's health before it turned to the weather, where Pat and Harry seemed to talk about every major blizzard that they lived through including a few that happened in April.<p>

Once everyone was done eating, Pat finally turned to Beth and said, "I don't see why you're selling this nice house. You never know when you'll have the time or money to buy another one in this market. Why don't you just rent it out to someone for the next few months until you get back?"

Beth leaned against Carlton as best she could in the folding chairs and crossed her arms. "Mom, I'm moving to Santa Barbara, as in permanently for the foreseeable future. I don't need this house weighing me down. It's bad enough that it'll probably take a few years to sell it anyways."

Pat laughed softly. "Trust me, out of all my children, you are the one who would miss the snow too much. If anything, it would be Josephine moving out of cold Northern Ohio since she never enjoyed the snow. I'm surprised that she hasn't convince Eric to have their wedding someplace warmer. At least she's getting a July wedding, although there's still over a year for that."

"Mom, I honestly don't care what Jo does, we are two totally different people. And no matter what you say, you're not going to change my mind."

Pat huffed, "Maybe if Fred was still in the picture, you wouldn't have run off. I don't know what you did to drive him away but I always said that he was one of the best things that ever happened to you."

Beth stiffened as silence rang throughout the room. Amy finally broke it and said, "Mom, that's not what happened and I think it's time I take you and dad home."

"How about you tell me then." Pat said, ignoring Amy. "By the looks on everyone's faces, Harry and I seem to be the only ones out of the loop. I think that I deserve to know the truth…"

"Dammit Mom!" Beth yelled as she stood up. "You don't deserve to know anything! I'm 30 years old and can take care of stuff without my mother's help! You don't know a damn thing about what happened with Fred!"

"Maybe if you would explain it to me…"

"Fine! You want to know?"

"Yes, I would like to know."

"Beth…" Carlton warned.

"No, Carlton. If she wants to know, then I'll tell her." Beth sent a stubborn look at Carlton before turning back to her mother. "Last spring, I knew something was up with Fred but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just stayed more alert. Then in June, he came over real late, drunk as a skunk. I didn't feel right about sending him away so I let him sleep on the couch. Big mistake. He tried to have sex with me and when I refused, he hit me, multiple times. So when I got the chance, I ran. Out of the house, out of the city, out of the state! I thought that it was over but then he came after me in Santa Barbara. So don't you dare tell me that he was the best thing that ever happened to me, because you are so wrong. The best thing that happened to me is walking out of that cop bar with Carlton because I finally found someplace that I felt accepted and wasn't living in one of my sibling's shadows. If you still think that I'm making a mistake to move halfway across the country to be happy, then screw you. I don't need your criticism. I've had enough of it these past few decades." Brushing back a few tears, Beth grabbed her crutches. "I hope you can find your way to the door for the last time." And with that, she made for the stairs.

"I hope you're happy, mom." Amy said as she shook her head and followed her sister.

Carlton sighed was about to start cleaning up when he heard Henry growl, "You need to apologize."

"Excuse me?" Pat scoffed. "But this is MY daughter's house…"

"Exactly." Henry interrupted as he leaned forward. "Your daughter's house, where you are currently a guest. You are also her mother and shouldn't be upsetting her like that, especially in her own home. Beth has been through a lot these past few days, this past year, and she does not need you tearing her down like that."

"Maybe if she had told me what had been going on in the first place…"

"She shouldn't have to. Like she said, she's 30 years old and can figure things out without you. Sure, she made mistakes, but so does everyone. You should be giving her support without her having to ask. When she is ready, she'll tell you about what else happened with Fred but only if she knows that you're not going to belittle her or tell her that what she did was wrong. She knows she messed up but a lot of it wasn't her fault. Now you need to apologize to her before it's too late. I know you two have a lot of issues but if you let her leave without at least starting the healing process, then you're going to regret it for a long time and it will be even harder to start mending fences the longer you wait. Trust me, I've been there."

After a few seconds of silence, Harry said, "Honey, he's right. I hate how you two seem to buttheads all the time for no apparent reason. You really do need to go talk to her."

"And please do not bring up Fred, because she will not want to talk about it," Henry added.

Finally, Pat sighed and got up without a word. A few minutes after she went upstairs, Pat came back down and grabbed her coat. "Harry, we're leaving." She said before heading towards the door.

The door had barely closed behind Pat when Amy came downstairs, shaking her head. "I don't know what the hell happened, but it looked like my mom had a big heaping of humble pie."

Henry smiled as he continued to clear off the table. "I just stated my opinion and told her the truth."

"Well thank you." Amy gave him quick hug. "It means a lot to me and Beth."

"Is she okay?" Carlton asked.

"Maybe. You should probably go check on her. Now I've got to go before my mom yells at me for keeping them waiting in the cold so long, although I'll probably get an earful in the car anyways. Have a nice trip and don't be afraid to visit. I've enjoyed both of your companies. So long."

"Bye Amy," Carlton replied as he headed for the stairs. Looking through the doorways, he found Beth in the only room that still had furniture in it, which happened to be the room that Carlton had been staying in. She was lying on the bed with Frisco on one side and Murphy on her stomach.

As he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, Beth didn't even glance at him once, opting to stare at the ceiling. After a minute, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head and sighed, "No."

"It might help."

She scoffed and finally looked at him. "I highly doubt it."

He nodded and took her hand. "Just so you know, Henry had your back, big time. For a second there, I was afraid that there was going to be a physical fight and I wasn't sure who was going to throw the first punch."

Beth laughed as she started to play with his hand in hers. "I thought I heard Henry's voice, but it was too far away to make anything out." She sighed and looked away. "I think my mom's afraid that if I move so far away, that she'll never hear from me again. I would barely see her once a month before, but now I have a legitimate excuse not to talk to her. I was always the one pushing away and she would try and find someway to keep us connected. I know it must have been hard for her after the accident. She not only lost her mother, but was losing one of her daughters as well. And I just don't know how to keep her involved in my life without feeling like she's suffocating me. It's not fair to either one of us or my siblings who sometimes get stuck in the middle. Hopefully she'll understand that I need this distance between us to figure things out. Who knows, I might come back here in a few years or I might stay out in Santa Barbara. I just know that this is the right thing to do and I don't know how to tell her that."

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Carlton said, "I'm pretty sure you just told her tonight."

"Yeah." Beth laughed as she looked him in the eye. "It wasn't the most elegant approach, but I guess I did get the message across. And I meant it, the part about me walking out of that bar with you. Because I would either be still traveling or dead."

"Don't, don't say that." Carlton whispered.

"But it's true." She wiped a tear away. "I came into that bar to get drunk. It was a week after my 30th birthday and I was feeling all depressed about where my life was and how I didn't know if I could continue going like that. I was halfway through the door when I realized that it seemed more like a family establishment, so I was just staying for dinner and would go back to my hotel room to get drunk alone. But then something about you caught my attention. You had this sadness about you and I felt like I had to get you talking." She laughed shakily. "But of course, you weren't having it. I was thinking about giving up and going to a different bar when that guy started hitting on me. Once you defended me, I knew that I had to keep trying, to get under that gruff shell that you didn't seem to let anyone see you without. So, yeah. It was the best moment of my life, walking out of there with you, because you saved my life, Carlton Lassiter. In more ways than one." She choked out the last bit as she finally let the tears fall.

Mindful of the pets, Carlton reached down and pulled her into a very awkward, one-armed hug. "I think you saved my life too. Or at least made it more bearable."

Beth just laughed as she wrapped her arms around him.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Okay, so slight spoilers for episodes 1x14 and 3x11. Also, I got Carlton's approximate birth date from Ep 2x06 where they mention that he's an Aries.  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 25<strong>_

Wednesday morning, after taking a shower and packing away all of his toiletries, Carlton came back into the bedroom to find Beth still huddled under the covers. He sat down on the other side of the bed and reached over to shake her shoulder. "Hey. Are you getting up anytime soon? Henry wants to leave within 2 hours and you still need to take a shower."

"I'm thinking about it." Beth mumbled.

"Well, let me help you out then. You only took a quick one yesterday because you didn't want to get out of bed then. This is your last chance to take a real shower for quite a few days, at least until we get to Las Vegas or wherever we are going."

She moved the blanket off her head and glared at him. "I know that I should take a shower, but that's not what I'm thinking about."

"Then what's wrong? Are you second guessing moving? Because it's kind of late for that."

"No, it's not, that it's just…" Beth sighed as she let her words hang and stared away from Carlton.

Taking her hand, Carlton asked. "Then what is it? You know you can tell me anything."

"Well, it's one thing to pretend that nothing's wrong with my family since I've know them forever. But most of my time in Santa Barbara is a complete blank. I remember the first week or so and then only a few insignificant things here and there. There's going to be a lot of people that I should know but I don't remember. I know that you told me about my jobs but that's not enough. Frankly, I'm scared of my memory never coming back."

"Hey," Carlton lightly squeezed her hand until she was looking at him. "The doctors said that it'll take some time for everything to come back and that it usually helps to be in certain environments for your brain to make the connections. I've talked with all your employers already. You don't have a singing gig until next Wednesday but they said you can cancel if you don't feel up to it. Then the daycare director, Carol, I think, said that they weren't expecting you back until Tuesday but you can take a couple extra days off since you'll probably only be doing paperwork anyways. It's not like when we get back, we're going to throw you into the deep end and expect you to tread water for hours after not swimming for years." Beth laughed shakily at that. "If everything doesn't come back at once, don't worry. You're a very smart person and can relearn things quickly enough so we'll worry about it if we get there. Okay?"

Beth smiled. "Okay. Que sera, sera, right?"

"Right. Now go take a shower before I drag you across the hall and throw you in with all of your clothes still on."

"As fun as that sounds," She said as she slowly sat up and grabbed her crutches. "I don't really want to deal with wet clothes. Unless you want to join me, of course. Then I'll be more than happy to make an exception." Carlton growled and threw a pillow in Beth's general direction. "Really Carly? I would have thought that a head detective would have better aim."

"I'll be more than happy to grab my gun and show you how well I can aim."

"Nah, I think I'll pass. Blood is really hard to get out of carpeting and I don't need another expense to weigh me down." Beth laughed as she finally left the room, ignoring Carlton's glare.

* * *

><p>Carlton was flipping through a fishing magazine when Beth sighed, "I'm bored."<p>

Carlton laughed, "Already? We've only been on the road for an hour and have about 8-10 hours of driving each day. You must have something to entertain yourself with."

"I have my laptop and some books somewhere but I'm not sure where they ended up."

"I would guess in the bedroom since I don't see them out here. Why don't you go check?"

Beth groaned and put her head in her hands. "I'm afraid of getting up."

"Why? We're not moving that fast and there aren't that many sharp turns on the highway."

"But getting up might bring about motion sickness."

Henry, who had been quietly listening to the radio while he drove, asked, "You're prone to motion sickness?"

"Occasionally, but it's usually just headaches and dizziness. I've only ever gotten nauseous twice and luckily we stopped moving before I felt the need to vomit."

"You've been out on my boat dozens of times and never seem to have a problem."

"Well, I usually keep Dramamine or similar pills in my purse just in case but I couldn't find any this morning."

"Do you want me to stop so you can get some?"

Beth was quite for a moment before replying, "No, I'm fine right now so you don't need to make a special trip. The next time we stop, I'll get some. If it acts up, I'll take some Advil or something. It's not as effective but it helps."

"Okay. We should be stopping in a few hours for lunch. Just let me know if we should stop sooner."

"Thanks Henry." She sighed and put her head on the table.

Carlton stood up and gently patted Beth's arm. "I'm gonna go check the bedroom for your laptop."

"Thanks. And can you let Frisco out? He's probably suffered enough, being alone with the cats and all."

* * *

><p>They stopped for the night around 8 at an RV park near St Louis. While Henry had unhooked Beth's car from the trailer and went to get dinner, Beth and Carlton took Frisco for a walk. They silently walked around the lake for a while before finding a picnic table and sitting down. There was a thin coating of snow on the ground and it was barely above freezing, but neither Frisco nor Beth seemed to care.<p>

Taking a deep breath, Beth asked, "So, was your vacation worth it?"

"What do you mean?" Carlton watched her face carefully as she played with her one crutch.

She shrugged, "Well, my memory of the last two weeks has, for the most part, come back and it seems that I've been causing you a lot of trouble. I think you've been taking care of me a lot more than relaxing.."

"Hey. As I've told you countless times before, I'm glad that I'm getting time to spend with you. The week that you drove to Ohio was one of the loneliest and, quite frankly, boring weeks I've had in such a long time. I had gotten so use to your presence that I just didn't know what to do, so I threw myself into my work. I was actually still at the station 2 hours before my flight. And it's been nice not having to worry about work at all. I don't think I've taking a real vacation like this since my honeymoon over a decade ago. So yeah, it's been worth it."

"Aww, you're going to make me cry!" Beth exclaimed as she covered her mouth.

"If anything, you've cried enough these last few weeks, probably this past year. I think you need to take some of your own advice and relax."

"And what do you know about relaxing?"

"Quite a bit." He poked her lightly in the arm. "And I've learned a lot from you too. Like a plethora of card games that we can play."

"Alright." Beth smiled before shivering slightly. "Let's head back now. I'm getting cold and Henry should be back soon. Hopefully he'll remember to buy dessert. Oh! Do you think he would get ice cream?"

Carlton laughed as he stood up and moved Frisco out of the way of Beth's crutches. "I highly doubt it. Besides, didn't Amy pack you enough sweets for this trip?"

"Yeah, but nothing beats ice cream. Except maybe ice cream cake. Mmm, I haven't had one of those in years. Maybe I'll get one for your birthday. Isn't it in a few weeks?"

"Oh no! You are not throwing me a birthday party!"

"Why not?"

"The last time someone tried to throw me a birthday party, they decided to go behind my back and make it a surprise. Unfortunately, they accidentally invited a whole bunch of criminals to my house and I had to move."

Beth laughed as they approached the RV. "I remember Shawn telling me about that! And then a few years later you ended up moving again because you were suspected of committing a crime, so the police combed your house."

"Okay, first of all, neither circumstances are funny. And second, I moved the second time mainly because Spencer and the person who was actually committed the crime came into my house and get blood all over the floor, so of course I had to move. I really liked that place too."

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Beth tried to say with a straight face as she waited for Carlton to unlock and open the RV door.

"Get in before I decide that I need to move again and not tell you where I'm at."

"Aww, you wouldn't do that! Besides, I can have Shawn find out for me and get me inside within a week. So basically, you would just be causing yourself a lot of unneeded stress."

"Just get in," Carlton growled as he let Frisco go ahead of them.

"Aye, aye Captain!" Beth tried to salute as she handed him her crutches in order to hope up the steps.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Author's note: Basically, all you have to know is that computers hate me and I haven't had much time to work on this in the past month. But I hope that this is okay. There should only be a handful of chapters left.**_

_**Enjoy!  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 26<strong>_

The next day and a half went pretty smoothly. Beth seemed a bit distant at times and would just lie quietly on the bed with her pets and read a book. Friday night, Carlton found her in the bedroom with her pets, gently playing her guitar. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he waited until she stopped before commenting, "It's nice to here you playing again."

Beth smiled as she laid the guitar across her lap. "Thanks. I wanted to practice some songs since I'll probably be preforming next week and it's been a while."

Carlton nodded and petted Frisco. "So, how's your memory? Any more progress?"

Beth shrugged, "I remember a few things here and there but nothing major. I now know the names of a few of the people at the daycare but I 'm not sure what they look like. It's frustrating but I guess I just have to wait it out."

"I'm glad that you have a better attitude about this whole situation."

"Yeah, well there's nothing much I can do about it, now can I?"

"No, not really. Ow!" Carlton rubbed his arm where Beth smacked him.

"Thanks a lot." She said sarcastically, smiling slightly to take the sting out of her words. "I really should stop counting on you to cheer me up."

"Sorry." Clearing his throat, he said. "Anyways, we just entered Denver but the next RV park is still a couple hours away. So Henry was planning on stopping somewhere soon for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Sure. As long as Frisco can come out with us. He hasn't been out since lunch and I think that he's getting a little cabin fever-ish."

Carlton laughed as he stood up. "Okay, I'll tell him."

"Thanks. I'll be right out."

* * *

><p>They parked a few blocks away from a restaurant with an outdoor seating area and walked over. Henry and Carlton talked about fishing while Beth seemed to be in her own world, scribbling out some song lyrics on a napkin. When their food arrived, she ate halfheartedly and gave a good deal of her burger to Frisco.<p>

Finally, she sighed and pushed her plate away. "I'm gonna head back to the RV."

"Do you want some company?" Carlton asked.

Beth laughed slightly. "No thanks. I could use some alone time. Enjoy the rest of your meal, order dessert if you want. Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She scratched Frisco's head before grabbing her crutches. "Be a good dog Frisco. I'll see ya later."

"Call me once you're inside," Carlton replied.

"Sure," Beth smiled as she turned to leave.

Once she was out of sight, Carlton commented, "With everything that has happened to her in the last few months, I really wish she didn't have amnesia. It's just complicating things."

"Yeah. I know that she's worried about not getting everything back, but honestly, I think it was a good thing." Henry said as he took a sip from his beer.

"You can't be serious."

"Why not? I know that it's frustrating not remembering stuff, especially when all the clues suggest that something very traumatic happened, but the knowledge hasn't been haunting her every hour of every day and night. I just hate to think what's going to happen when the memory does come back."

"Don't you mean if?"

"No. I've got a really bad feeling that it's going to come back soon and it's going to hit her hard."

Carlton nodded as the waitress dropped the check off. "I think I'm gonna check on her."

"Alright. I'll be along shortly with Frisco."

Carlton nodded again and hurried out of the restaurant. He was a block away when he saw Beth hobbling along. She stopped at the corner and started to cross the street. Feeling his uneasiness subside a little, he slowed down.

When Beth was about halfway across, Carlton heard a sound that made his heart stop. A car was barreling down the street, horn blaring and swerving all over the road. Looking over, he saw that Beth had stumbled in the middle of the road and was trying to get up with her crutches.

Without hesitation, Carlton sprinted down the sidewalk towards Beth. Grabbing her around the waist, he dragged her the rest of the way across the street, the car missing them by feet. Beth's one crutch got stuck on the curb and they both ended up sprawled on the sidewalk.

Carlton turned slightly to take most of the impact and landed on his hurt shoulder. Closing his eyes in pain, he let go of Beth and clutched his arm closer to his chest. He felt Beth shift next to him and was about to ask if she was aright when he heard footsteps hurry over.

"Oh my god! Are you guys okay? I saw that car almost hit you before it went off the road! My boyfriend is calling an ambulance right now."

Carlton looked up to see a young lady in her early 20's kneeling on the sidewalk next to him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sat up slowly, allowing the young lady to help him. "What happened to the car?"

"I don't know. They were all over the road before hitting a tree. We saw a few people heading over there before we came to you guys. Miss? Miss are you okay?"

Turning towards Beth, Carlton noticed how she was clutching her knee to her chest and rocking back and forth. "She's having a panic attack, can you give us some room?" Carlton said as he reached a hand for her shoulder, "Beth? Are you okay?"

Beth jerked away from his touch and gasped, "L-leave me alone, Fred!" as her breathing started to increase.

"Dammit!" Carlton cursed quietly as he moved so he was directly in front of her. "Beth, listen to me. You're safe. Fred is not here, he can not hurt you."

She shook her head and looked at him. "You don't *gasp* don't know that."

"Yes I do. He's not here." He gently placed a hand on her cheek, ignoring her flinch. "You're remembering things, right?"

"I, I remember ev-everything."

"Do you remember me arresting him?"

"Y-yes, a couple of, of times." Beth stuttered as she continued to struggle with her breathing.

"Do you remember the trial?"

"I um, I didn't *gasp* have the guts to go in-inside the courtroom."

"No you didn't. But you were outside the day they sentenced him and I found you sitting on my car."

"Y-you said that he was *gasp* was found guilty and was going t-to jail."

"Exactly." Carlton moved his hand to the back of her neck and massaged gently. "So you have nothing to be afraid of. You just need to breathe, okay? In and out, in and out."

Beth nodded as she started taking deep breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, Carlton noticed a police officer talking to the couple as well as an ambulance arriving.

Carlton was about to reassure her again when he heard someone calling his name. Looking around, he saw Henry waking over quickly with Frisco. It was hard to tell who was leading whom.

"What happened?" Henry asked.

"Excuse me sir, I need you to stay back." One of the police officers tried to intercept Henry.

Carlton didn't know which was more intimidating, Henry's glare or Frisco's growl.

Henry said menacingly, "I am checking up on my friends, making sure that they are okay, if you don't mind."

The officer, looking at least half of Henry's age, shifted uncomfortably as he replied, "Sir, this is an accident scene and no bystanders are allowed passed..."

"Listen. I'm going over to my friends whether you like it or not. Now, are you going to move or am I going to have to move you?"

"I, I um..." The officer stuttered.

Light laughter met Carlton's ears and he turned to see Beth covering her mouth, trying to stifle it. When Carlton raised an eyebrow in question, Beth shook her head.

A second later, Henry finally joined them and Frisco was quick to sit next to Beth and nuzzle her.

"Are you guys okay?" Henry asked as he looked them over.

"That was going to be my question." A paramedic said as he joined them.

"We're fine. There's no reason to go to the hospital." Carlton replied.

"I believe its my job to determine that." The medic set down his bag and pulled out a clipboard. "Now, can you tell me what happened?"

"I, um." Beth coughed nervously before continuing. "I was crossing the street, heading back to our RV when I heard a car horn and I stumbled, dropping my crutches. I was trying to pick them up when I felt someone grab me around the waist and pull me across the street. It wasn't until after we fell onto the sidewalk that I realize it was Carlton, but by then I started having a panic attack."

"Are you prone to panic attacks?"

"Only in the last few months." She shifted nervously and petted Frisco.

"Do you concur with her statement, sir?" The medic asked as he turned to Carlton.

"Yeah. I was about a block behind her when I heard and then saw the car. I just reacted on instinct. We tripped on the curb and I landed mainly on my injured shoulder."

"And how does your shoulder feel now?"

"It's a little sore but nothing like it was last weekend when I originally hurt it." Carlton flinched when the medic gently prodded his arm.

"There doesn't seem to be any swelling but I would advise that you get it checked out as soon as possible if you experience any pain or swelling."

"Okay."

The medic picked up his clipboard and said, "It looks like you two got off pretty easy. I know that the driver of the car and their passenger are going to the hospital."

"Do you know what happened?" Beth asked

"Looks like the driver was having a seizure and his 13 year old daughter grabbed the wheel and tried to get them safely off the road. Luckily, she got the car to spin before it hit the tree so they weren't directly pinned against it. The daughter is awake and alert while the father is unconscious." The medic picked up his stuff and smiled. "I'm glad you guys are both alright."

"Thanks," Beth muttered.

"Yeah, thank you." Carlton added as he rubbed his injured arm.

"No problem. Have a good night." The medic smiled as he walked away.

"So what now?" Beth asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, we have to give our statements to the police and then hopefully we can leave."

"Okay. Where did my crutches end up?"

"One is next you but I think that the other one got ran over by the car." Henry said as he looked around.

Beth sighed as she looked towards the street and saw her bent crutch. "Great. Good thing I'm good at walking with one crutch."

"We can stop at a store and try to find you a new set. But in the meantime, I'm going to bring the RV closer. Come on Frisco." Henry said as he gently tugged on the leash.

"Oh, you don't have to! It's only a block away! I can totally limp that." Beth tried to reason.

"No, it's fine. Besides, you don't need Frisco or myself hanging around while you're giving your statements. I'll be back in 10 minutes." Henry waved as he walked off, leaving no room for arguing.

After a moment, Carlton asked, "Are you okay?" Beth just scoffed and shook her head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She flicked her eyes to the approaching officer before saying, "Not right now. Maybe later."

"Okay."


	27. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER 27**

Once they were back in the RV and making their way to the next RV park, Beth locked herself in the bedroom and wouldn't let Carlton in when he asked. Once they arrived at the park, Carlton tried knocking again. "Hey Beth? We've stopped for the night and Henry wants to take Frisco out before going to sleep."

Getting no response, Carlton tried the handle, a bit surprised to find it unlocked. Opening the door, he was met by a sight that he had gotten use to over the past few weeks: Beth was fast asleep in the middle of the bed, Murphy on one pillow and Frisco laying against Beth's back.

Clicking his tongue, Carlton whispered to Frisco, "You want to go outside?" Frisco yawned as he got up and stretched before slowly making his way out the door.

Shaking his head, Carlton watched the dog join Henry before he stepped towards the bed. Looking Beth over, he noticed the dried tear tracks on her cheeks and slightly puffy eyes.

As Carlton reached to pull the blanket up, he found a small notebook on the floor, which he immediately recognized as Beth's music notebook. Flipping through the pages, he glanced at the multiple half started songs and melodies. About halfway through, he noticed a sudden shift from disjointed lines all over the page with giant gaps to pages completely filled from margin to margin. Turning back to the first page, Carlton scanned it.

The majority of the pages seemed to be her memories of the past few months, especially want happened with Fred. Some words were crossed out, others were added here and there. In the margins, she compared her feelings from when things happened with how she felt looking back at them now.

The last page was the most interesting. She wrote a whole bunch of what ifs, from what if Fred had been successful in any of his attempts to what if she had kept traveling to what if she had gone through with the suicide attempt. Frowning, Carlton made sure that Beth was asleep before he read the last paragraph:

"If Fred hadn't come over drunk that night and tried to sleep with me, I never would have left and gone traveling, eventually ending up in Santa Barbara. If Fred hadn't found me, I probably wouldn't have spent as much time as I did with Carlton that first week, including staying at his house. If I hadn't become so comfortable around him and all of his friends, I would have continued my wanderings, probably never seeing Carlton again. Part of me fell in love with Carlton that week, but I soon realized that I wasn't ready for that and we were meant to be friends, good friends. I do hate that all these bad things happened. But without all the bad, I wouldn't have gotten the good that's come out of it. So yeah, what I said to Fred that day was true, I do forgive him. Because without him, I wouldn't have found this new chapter in my life. I just hope that I can finally let go of the past and move on."

Sighing, Carlton closed the notebook and set it on Beth's stuff. On the one hand, he was glad that Beth seemed to be healing well enough emotionally. On the other, he was a little thrown off about her falling in love with him. When Beth had kissed him all those months ago, and then him kissing her a second time, he didn't think that he was capable of keeping a relationship and he didn't want to hurt Beth, especially with everything that she was going through with Fred. If she had said that she did want to have a romantic relationship with him, Carlton probably would have asked to take it really slow.

All of this circle thinking was making Carlton long for some scotch, or any hard liquor for that matter. But between there being no alcohol onboard, for Carlton ad checked the first night, and the pain meds he was still on, he was out of luck. So, grabbing his sweatpants and a clean shirt, Carlton went into the small bathroom to change, deciding to let his brain simmer on everything overnight, hopefully it would be a lot less confusing in the morning.

* * *

><p>Carlton felt the bed move as he was startled awake. Looking over, he saw Beth sitting on the edge of the bed, head in her hands and elbows on her knees as she took deep breaths. Reaching a hand for her shoulder, he asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"<p>

Beth squeaked and jerked away from him, falling off the bed in the process.

Carlton flicked on the light before sitting up and moving closer to her. He saw that she was laying mostly on her back with a hand over her heart, staring at him with wide eyes for a second before sighing in relief. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream." She laughed slightly and wiped away a few stray tears. "When I woke up, I guess I forgot that you would be here. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

Beth laughed again as she slowly sat up. "If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me…"

"Let me guess, you would be a millionaire?"

"No, but I could buy a value meal, maybe a pizza." She said with a slight smirk .

Carlton couldn't help his smile as he offered his hand to help her back onto the bed.

Once they were both settled against the headboard, he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." She sighed and looked him straight in the eye. "Thanks. For everything."

"You're welcome."

"I guess we should probably get some more sleep. We only have, what? 3 hours or so until Henry wakes us up?"

"Something like that. Although he might want an earlier start today so that we can be sure to make it to the hotel before rush hour."

"Okay." Beth leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Night Carlton."

"Night." Carlton replied as he watched her lay down with her back to him and pull the blanket up to her shoulder.

* * *

><p>In the morning they broke camp a bit fast then normal, eager to get on the road. They were to deliver the RV the next morning and, after spending a night in a hotel with real showers, were scheduled to be back in Santa Barbara by dinner. Beth spent most of the day in the bedroom with her pets, watching movies on her laptop. When they stopped for lunch, Beth refused to join them, asking if they could pick her up some ice cream and brownies.<p>

As they reached Las Vegas, Beth finally joined them up front and looked at all the neon signs they were passing. She smiled and said, "It's not as impressive as I thought it would be."

Henry snorted as he replied, "The movies over hype everything. But if you really want to see Las Vegas shine, you need to go down the strip at night."

"Can we go see it?"

"I thought you didn't like gambling."

"Only because I'm not good at it. But I just want to go up and down the strip, take a few pictures, maybe get some souvenirs."

"We'll be at the hotel soon and who knows what Shawn has planned."

"Shawn's here?" Beth asked, perking up for the first time all week.

"Yeah." Henry shook his head. "I told him that we'll need another vehicle to get to Santa Barbara and it only made sense that he came since he's the one who arranged the RV. He agreed if only he could book a hotel for the night. So I can't guarantee the room arrangements. I think he booked us at the Hampton Inn."

"That's actually a pretty good hotel." Carlton chimed in. "Not too far from the casinos but far enough that all the noise and lights don't keep you up all night. I'm surprised he didn't pick a hotel right in the middle of the strip."

"I think he used to work there or something. He was very vague on it."

"Your son has a lot of strange connections."

" Yeah, well, they can be helpful. Some of the time. I just hope that this place isn't too crowded with young folks, being spring break season and all."

Beth laughed, "Oh Henry. Not many college students would come to Las Vegas for spring break. They usually only have enough money for travel and hotel and won't want to risk losing it in the casinos. We're more at risk of being over crowded by business people than college students."

"I hope so. I just want a quite evening getting dinner at the hotel restaurant and maybe watch some tv."

"What? Are you tired of us already?" Beth asked, sounding silently hurt.

"No. But after driving for several days straight, I'd like to relax for the evening. You're welcome to join me."

"Tempting, but I think I'll convince Shawn to take me somewhere a bit more exciting."

"As long as it's nothing illegal and you don't hurt yourself." Carlton said.

"Awww, are you worried about little old me, Carly?"

Carlton glared at her as he replied, "I just don't feel like bailing you out of jail or picking you up from the hospital, again. I really do not want to add Las Vegas to the list of hospitals I've been to this year alone."

"Fine. I promise to try not to get into any trouble. Happy?"

"Not really. But since you and Spencer are both adults, even if neither of you act like it half the time, there's nothing much that I can do."

"Well, thank you for that, I think." Beth smiled as she looked out the window to see that they were pulling up to a hotel. "Wow. This is a pretty nice-looking hotel."

"Yeah. Spencer did a good job. For once." Carlton said as he packed up his stuff.

Beth laughed as Henry parked the RV. Henry had barely turned off the engine when there was a knock at the door. Frisco started barking and backing away from the door. Shaking his head, Henry asked, "Hey Carlton, can you get that, it's probably Shawn."

"Sure." Carlton nodded.

"Frisco, come here," Beth called as Carlton went to the door.

"LASSIE!" Shawn exclaimed as soon as the door opened and wrapped Carlton in a tight hug.

"Spencer! Get off me!" Carlton growled as he tried, but failed, to push Shawn off.

"But Lassie! It's been 2 whole weeks and I've missed my favorite salt and pepper Irish detective! You're like my second favorite person to annoy, behind only my father."

"Shawn! Let go of Carlton right now!" Henry sighed as he rubbed his face.

"Yes, papa monkey! And I've missed you too."

"Hey Shawn." Beth giggled as Shawn bounded up the steps after finally releasing Carlton .

"Beth! It's been like forever! Is this your dog?" Shawn dropped down on the floor and started petting Frisco fiercely, the dog more than happy to oblige.

"Yeah, this is Frisco. I think you've won him over already. It took Carlton and your dad quite a few days each."

"That's because they're cranky old detectives. I, on the other hand, am a very fun-loving person and dogs adore me. I once worked at an animal shelter for a few months."

"Really? Isn't working at one really hard because you would just want to take all of them home?"

"Nope. Well, I did collect quite a few cats until the landlord found out and I had to take them back."

"Is that why they fire you?" Henry asked as he got out of the driver's seat.

"Who said they fired me?"

"Shawn."

"Okay, yeah they did. But it wasn't my fault they didn't like the dogs roaming the neighborhood by themselves."

"Shawn!" Beth laughed. "Did they all come back?"

"Most of them. I think I saw a few still out and about as I was driving to my next destination."

Henry huffed and said, "Another reason of why I'm glad Shawn didn't have a dog when he was a kid."

Seeing an argument about to break out, Beth said, "So, who wants to take Frisco? We can come back for the cats after we check in."

"I'll take him!" Shawn replied enthusiastically as he spied the leash and grabbed it. "I'll even take him for a quick run to a patch of grass, in case he needs to do his business."

"Sure. I bet Frisco would like that. He hasn't had a chance to run since we left Cleveland." Beth said with a big smile.

"Awesome. I'll meet you guys inside the lobby." With that, Shawn led Frisco to the door and left.

After watching them run off, Beth reached for her crutches. "Well, that was easier than I thought."

Henry laughed. "So, you've learned the trick of how to deal with Shawn?"

"Oh, I kind of stumbled upon it a few weeks after meeting Shawn. Gus actually pointed out to me what I did."

"I'm guessing Gus gave you a few more pointers?"

"Yep. So you have no worries about us tonight. I can handle Shawn." Beth smirked as she made her way out the door.


	28. Chapter 28

_**CHAPTER 28**_

Coming out of the bathroom, Carlton found Beth still sleeping. Sighing, he went over and shook her shoulder. "Time to wake up."

She mumbled incoherently and turned away from him. Looking at Frisco, who was finishing his food, Carlton asked, "Can I get some help?"

Frisco quickly made his way over to Beth and started licking her face. She squirmed and tried to get away from him, only to have the dog jump up on the bed and continue his assault. "Carly! Why are you so mean?" Beth whined, pulling the blanket over her head.

Carlton laughed as he started to pack up his stuff. "Maybe if you weren't out until 2am you wouldn't be so tired."

"Well I'm sorry that Shawn and I decided to have some fun instead of staying in the hotel all night, watching the news."

"Hey! A lot of things have been going on this week that newspapers can't cover nearly as well."

"Whatever," Beth sighed as she threw the blanket off and sat up. She looked at the clock and groaned. "Why did you wake me up so early? It's barely 8 o'clock."

"Because the Hendersons are going to be by around 10 to pick up their RV and we still need to move stuff to Henry's truck."

"Can't you do it without me? It's not like I can be much help, with crutches and all."

"You can help empty the fridge and pack up the cat toys Murphy managed to spread all over the RV."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Beth laughed as she looked over at Murphy, who was currently playing with a ball of yarn; letting it trail all over the room as Salem watched from his perch on a dresser.

"It's your cat; you get to clean them all up."

"Fine," Beth yawned as she moved to the edge of the bed and grabbed her crutches. "Just give me a half hour or so to shower and change."

"Good. I'll be downstairs, getting some breakfast."

"Oh, can you bring me up some! I'd like some fruit and pancakes, please."

"I'll think about it," Carlton mumbled as he opened the door.

"Thanks Carly!" Beth called. Carlton ignored her laughter after the door shut.

* * *

><p>An hour after arriving at his house, Carlton was getting a bit nervous. He and Henry had unloaded the truck and placed everything inside but Beth and Shawn weren't back yet. Shaking his head, Carlton dialed Beth and waited for her to pick up. It rang about 4 times before she finally answered, shouting a bit over the radio and Shawn's singing.<p>

"Hey Carlton! What's up?" _"Take on meeee."_

"I was wondering where you guys are. We've been back for about an hour and Henry's ready to go home."

"_Take me on." _"Oh, um. Well I think we just past Ventura, so maybe another 40, 50 minutes? Give or take." _"I'll be gone."_

"Okay. I was going to order delivery. Does pizza sound good or.…"

"_TWOOOOOO!" "ARRRHHHOOOO."_

Carlton pulled the phone away from his ear as Shawn seemed to screech the last note and Frisco howled. Henry rolled his eyes as he walked over and took the phone from Carlton. "Tell Shawn to shut up for a minute or, so help me, he won't see another case from the department for at least a month."

Carlton heard the music and singing instantly stop as Henry handed the phone back. "I'll be going now. Please only call me if it's a medical emergency."

"Okay, bye Henry." Carlton replied as he put the phone back up to his ear in time to here Shawn protest, "Oh, come on dad! We're just having some fun!"

"Spencer! Pay attention to the road and hand the phone back to Beth!"

"He's gone, isn't he? Man, he always does that! Threaten me and then somehow make it so I can't argue back!"

"Spencer!"

"Fine," Shawn sighed.

"Sorry," Beth giggled into the phone. "But we were just having some fun. That's what you're supposed to do on road trips."

Carlton shook his head before heading to the couch. "As I was saying, does pizza sound good?"

"Oh yeah. Did you want us to pick it up or…?"

"No, I think you two have enough on your hands with 2 cats, a dog and crutches."

"Oh, right. Well, be sure to get something good." _"I want pineapple!" _Beth giggled. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. Is chicken and pineapple good?"

"Yep. See you in a half hour or so. Bye."

"Bye," Carlton said right before the music got turned back up and she hung up.

Yawning, Carlton got comfortable on the couch as he dialed the pizza place.

* * *

><p>Carlton was startled awake by a loud pounding. He was reaching for his absent shoulder holster before he recognized it as someone knocking at the door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly sat up and rubbed his face.<p>

As he got off the couch, the knocking started again, soon joined by a voice: "Lassie! Are you gonna let us in or what?"

"Yeah, come on Carly! It's getting late and I really shouldn't leave the cats in the car too much longer."

Glaring, Carlton opened the door to Shawn, Beth and Frisco. "What have I told you about the nicknames?"

"That you don't like them," Beth smiled widely as she moved past him. "Now be a dear and help Shawn get my cats. Come on, Frisco."

Carlton stepped back as Frisco followed Beth, his leash trailing, before heading out to his driveway.

"So, did you have a good time with my dad?" Shawn asked with a smile as he handed Murphy to Carlton.

"Actually I did. We barely spoke 5 sentences the entire ride, and they involved where to stop for lunch and what's the best way to get to my house. I doubt you two had 5 minutes of silence."

"Oh, you're totally right on that account, Lassie. Our ride consisted on having fun and enjoying each other's company." Shawn flashed Carlton a smile before opening the door again. "Hey Kitty, Kitty. Are you ready to go inside?" Shawn picked up the slightly squirming Salem, who started meowing quite angrily.

"I don't think he likes you," Carlton snorted as he headed back inside.

"Aw, he's just nervous about being in a new place. Salem and I got to know each other very well on the way over. He even sat on my lap when we stopped for lunch."

"That's not hard. He was bugging me the other day for food."

Beth laughed as they entered her room. "Ah, so you guys have figured out one of the ways to win Salem over. He's so like a guy, a little bit of food and he'll be friends with anybody."

"Are you saying that guys are so easy to win over?" Carlton asked as he placed Murphy on her lap.

"Yep!" Beth smiled widely. "Hey, can you shut the door so the cats can investigate?"

"Sure. And actually, I agree with her, Lassie. Give me a good pineapple smoothie or some jerk chicken and I'll be your friend, at least for a little while. Which reminds me, when is this pizza supposed to be here? I'm hungry."

"It should be here soon. And I don't remember inviting you for dinner, Spencer." Carlton said as he went out the door.

Before he could shut it, Shawn followed him. "Aw, come on Lassie! Jules is picking me up so I can get my bike but that's not for another half hour or so."

Carlton rubbed his forehead as he heard the doorbell ring. "Fine. But I better not see you again for a couple days, at least."

"Oh, you know I can't promise you that, Lassie. Beth and I have a couple movie nights that we need to catch up on."

"Then do it someplace else, not here."

"But Lassie, Beth needs to help her pets adjust! Their auras are all out of whack and they need Beth to help them relax."

"Spencer! Just give me some space. Okay?" Carlton snapped.

Shawn took a step back and raised his hands. "Okay Lassie, whatever you say."

"Spencer," Carlton sighed as the doorbell rang again.

"Hey, I'm gonna go help make sure the cats don't escape when Beth joins us." Shawn smiled half-heartedly as he quickly left Carlton alone.

Shaking his head, Carlton went to the front door.

* * *

><p>"Will you stop throwing food all over my house?" Carlton reprimanded as he rubbed his forehead.<p>

"But Lassie! Frisco is having fun, running around and trying to find all the food. He's finally calmed down a bit." Shawn smiled as he threw another piece of chicken behind the couch and watched the dog go after it.

"Yeah, Carly. Relax." Beth giggled as she put her empty plate down on the coffee table.

"He better eat all the food and don't make this a habit." Carlton started cleaning up when the doorbell rang and Frisco started barking.

"Oh, that must be Jules!" Shawn jumped off the couch and ran to the door, Frisco following.

"I hope that means you're leaving," Carlton called.

"It hasn't been that bad, has it?" Beth asked as they heard Shawn introducing Juliet to Frisco.

Carlton sighed as he saw the laughter on Beth's face. "I guess not. But I'm tired and really just want a quiet night."

"Alright," Beth smiled as Frisco came over and sat in front of her.

Juliet came in and stopped by the couch. "Hey Carlton. Did you guys have a good trip?"

"It could have been worse," Carlton said.

"Oh, well I'm glad you're back." She held up a bag and set it on the coffee table. "I brought you some eggs, milk and bread for breakfast."

"Thanks O'Hara."

"No problem. So I'll be by around 11:30 to pick you up for your appointment, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Carlton picked up the bag and went into the kitchen.

Beth laughed as she petted Frisco. "Sorry, it's been a long week. I think he's just glad to be home."

"Yeah. If you need anything, feel free to call me. I'll swing by tomorrow after work and take you grocery shopping."

"Okay, thanks Juliet," Beth smiled as Shawn came back in with a few boxes and bags.

"Hey Beth, where do you want these?" Shawn tried to see around the boxes without them falling.

"Oh, um. You can just leave them against the wall. They'll probably make it into my room at some point."

"Okay." Shawn put the boxes down before going over to Beth and giving her a hug. "Let me know if you need to escape. You can even bring Frisco with you."

Beth laughed as they parted. "Thanks Shawn. I'll let you know."

"Well, I guess we're off. Bye Beth. BYE LASSIE!" Shawn shouted as he went to the door.

"GO HOME SPENCER!" Carlton shouted back

"Aww, I knew you cared." Shawn winked at Beth before bouncing out the door.

Juliet shook her head as she went over to hug Beth. "I'm glad you guys weren't hurt too badly in that accident."

"Yeah, me too." Beth smiled as she hugged back. "So, how long until Carlton tries to go back into work?"

Juliet laughed as she stepped back. "Probably tomorrow after his appointment. He'll be put on desk duty first so he can wait until Tuesday to come in for that, possibly Wednesday. When are you going back to work?"

"I don't know. I think I still have a week off at the daycare but I might have a gig Wednesday night. I have to call them tomorrow and find out."

"Okay." Juliet's phone rang at that moment and she sighed when she checked the caller id. "It's Shawn. Obviously he's getting impatient waiting."

Carlton snorted as he came back into the room with a glass of scotch. "I'm surprised that he hasn't come barging back in to drag you outside like the little kid that he is."

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny Carlton." Juliet said as she went over to give him a hug.

"It is kind of funny." Beth commented as she got more comfortable in the middle of couch. Frisco jumped up and settled on her right side.

"Thank you." Carlton grinned slightly as Juliet stepped back. "Weren't you leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm going. Have a good night." Juliet smiled as she went to the door.

"Bye Juliet!" Beth called as she grabbed the remote. "So, what are you in the mood for?"

"I don't know, something relaxing?"

"So no action movies." She turned on the TV and started flipping channels as Carlton sat down next to her. "Aren't you on drugs and not suppose to be drinking alcohol?"

"I haven't taken any of my pills today so I figured that I would be fine."

"Okay, it's your health." She yawned.

"If you're tired, you should go to bed."

"No, I don't want to yet. Look, it's Cary Grant and the movie just started. I'll go to bed afterwards."

"Fine. As long as you're quiet now."

"Okay Carly." She pulled the blanket off the back of the couch before covering them both up and using Carlton's shoulder as a pillow.

"Comfy?" He smirked.

"Yep. Now be quiet. "

Carlton laughed as he carefully took another sip of his scotch without disturbing Beth too much.


	29. Chapter 29

IT IS FINISHED!

Finally. I'm taking a break from this series to work on other stories. There are at least 3 more stories for this series (one a crossover). Feel free to check out my livejournal account where many of my fanfic ideas are.

So thank you all for reading and reviewing!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em><strong>CHAPTER 29<strong>_

Once his doctor's appointment was over, Carlton waited outside the building, glaring at his watch impatiently. Since Juliet was taking her lunch break to drive Carlton, she dropped him off and went to eat. he called her when he was done and she said she would be there shortly, 10 minutes ago.

The doctor put Carlton through a whole array of stretching exercises and an x-ray. The doctor cleared Carlton to return to work for desk duty but he still had to keep his shoulder as still as possible. He had another appointment in a week and a half where he could hopefully get the sling off.

Carlton was about to call Juliet again when he finally saw her pull up. He barely waited for her to stop before opening the door. "Took you long enough." He huffed as he eased into the seat and buckled up.

"Sorry. I met Shawn for lunch and lost track of time. When you called me, we hadn't even gotten the check yet and still had to wait on the food we ordered for you guys." Juliet handed him a bag with two styrofoam containers. "This place makes really good Rueben sandwiches so I hope it's okay."

"Sounds good but I don't think Beth likes sauerkraut."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe she can pick it off?"

"I'm sure it will be fine."

"Okay," Juliet smiled nervously as she pulled away from the curve and started driving.

They drove in silence for a few minutes until Juliet asked, "So, how'd it go?"

"Okay."

"Okay? That's it? Are you healing alright? Is there going to be any permanent damage? When can you head back to work?"

"O'Hara," Carlton sighed. "Yes, everything's fine. I can go back to work tomorrow. I'll have the sling for the next 2 weeks and then I'll probably be back to full duty a week after that."

"Oh, good. So I should pick you up tomorrow on my way in?"

"Yeah, that would be fine." The food was starting to make the car smell good and Carlton was glad to see them pull up to his house. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. And can you let Beth know that I'll be back around 6?"

"Sure."

"Okay. I'll see you later." Juliet smiled as Carlton got out and shut the door.

Carlton was slightly relieved when Juliet drove off before he reached the door. Stepping inside, he was a bit surprised by how quiet it was. When he left, Beth and Frisco were on the couch as Murphy and Salem explored the living room. But now, none of them were to be seen.

"Beth?" Carlton called as he made his way into the kitchen. "Beth, where are you?"

"Out here!" He heard from the direction of the back porch.

Setting the bag on the counter, Carlton went over to the sliding door and opened it. Beth was sitting on the porch while Frisco was laying in the middle of the yard. There was a pot on a chair in front of Beth that smoke was coming out of.

"Hey Carlton, how'd it go?" Beth smiled as she threw some paper into the pot.

"Is that a fire? You started a fire on my porch?" Carlton asked as he stood next to her and looked into the pot.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I work at a girl scout camp for a couple summers and I know all about fire safety. See, I've got a bucket of water, a lid and kitty litter."

"Kitty litter?"

"Well, you didn't have any sand."

Carlton rubbed his forehead. "I'm pretty sure that you're breaking a handful of fire codes, not to mention ruining one of my favorite pots."

"I'm sorry. I'll buy you a new pot if I can't get this clean."

Sighing, he sat down and looked at all the papers on the table between them. "So what's all this?"

"Well, most of it's everything that has to do with Fred. From random rants and half-finished poems to love notes he sent me. I'm basically starting over here and I don't need these reminders."

"It couldn't have all been bad, could it?"

"There were good times. I've saved all the pictures, mainly because you really shouldn't burn them. Plus, I don't have many pictures of myself over the past few years that didn't have Fred in them." Beth shook her head and looked down at the notebook sitting on her lap.

"What's that?"

"Just a list of things that I need to keep in mind when looking at apartments. I've got within 2 miles of either you or the daycare, preferably both; either a backyard or close to a patch of grass for Frisco; at least two bedrooms; and a sizable kitchen. I probably won't get my ideal place on my budget, but hopefully by the end of summer I'll find something."

"The end of summer? Why so long?"

"What? Are you tired of me already?" Beth smirked.

"No, not you. I'm thinking more about your pets. I've never been much of a pet person and can't imagine living with them for 6 months."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll probably move out before then, but it'll be at least a month before I can walk without assistance and they'll need me less at the daycare during the summer."

"Seems like you have everything figured out." Carlton said as he stood up to go get the food.

"Not everything, but I'm getting there. Besides, you know what they say about making plans."

When she didn't continue, Carlton said, "Something about life passing you by?"

"Close. I was thinking about the one that says God laughs when we make plans." Beth smiled as she put another paper in the fire.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind." Carlton said as he opened the door. Before going inside, he looked back at Beth and asked, "Are you going to be alright now?"

Beth laughed, "I can't make any promises since we don't know what tomorrow will bring." She sighed as she looked into the fire. "But for right now, I'm perfectly content."

As she looked back at him with a happy smile, Carlton couldn't help having one of his own as he replied, "Me too."


End file.
